Millwall boss Neil Harris confident that barren scoring spell will end soon

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Millwall boss Neil Harris has every confidence the goals will start flowing again soon.

The Lions had a third straight Championship match at The Den without scoring as they drew 0-0 with Sheffield Wednesday last night.

But there were a number of near misses for the SE16 outfit, not least when Ben Marshall’s header was cleared off the line in the second half.

It was a third straight match without netting since the FA Cup win over Everton at The Den.

But the Lions have seen their frontline options hit with Tom Elliott (shoulder) and Tom Bradshaw (knee) ruled out.

Harris had attempted to bring in a forward before the January window closed – only for targets not to move. 

He said: “I want us to score goals, we’re used to scoring goals here. We’ve had to adjust how we have to play, because we’ve not had a targetman. I’ve not wanted to play Steve [Morison] from the start, we’ve not had Tom Elliott or been able to get anyone in the transfer window.

“There has been an element of people saying we play too direct. Well, direct has been good for us ever since I’ve been at the football club since 1999. And it’s been very effective. 

“We’re very difficult to play against. We’ve adapted slightly, passed the ball really well – we look a really good Championship team at times – but we’ve not been able to find the back of the net. I need to get the balance of the two right.

“Sometimes you have to put the onus on the players and say ‘fellas, we can work all week on it – we can have a gameplan and coach you – but you have to show those moments of quality’. They have to do it regularly in training and transfer that into a game.

“Moving forward, we’ll score goals.”

IMAGE BY BRIAN TONKS