Millwall boss outlines areas his side fell short in 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough

BY ALEX GRACE

Gary Rowett has pinpointed where he felt his Millwall side made mistakes in their 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough

The Lions were once again forced to come from behind in a game to earn a point as a Sol Bamba own goal restored parity after Matt Crooks had given the home side the lead.

Rowett told Millwall’s official website. “They have got good players. The only problem I had was that there was too many occasions where one of their players beats one of ours and we didn’t do that enough ourselves in the game. That’s why we didn’t create as many chances as we’d like.

“We still had some good moments. Benik had a great chance in the second half off the flick of a throw in and he said he should have scored. That last pass is the problem. You have to dig in sometimes. We had to be resolute today and we’ve earned a good point. I don’t think they created any real clearcut chances.

“We started a little bit slowly. Once Mase [Mason Bennett] came to life he brought the other two to life. At times our front three were a handful, at times we didn’t back them up with enough quality.”

Millwall have still only lost four games this season and they face high-flying Bournemouth on Wednesday night looking to avenge the 4-1 defeat the Cherries inflicted on them towards the end of last season.

“These are the games we know at The Den we need to go out and perform,” said Rowett. “We need our fans. They were brilliant today, the fans that came up here. It’s a hellish journey but they have given us great support.

“Our away fans are fantastic and our home fans are fantastic when we have given them something to get behind. Wednesday will be a tough game – everyone can see clearly that Fulham and Bournemouth are a step ahead of everyone, but that’s the challenge.”