Jake Cooper: FA Cup run will have no ill-effects on Millwall’s Championship campaign
The Lions are just above the bottom three going into tomorrow’s fifth round tie at AFC Wimbledon.
Cooper’s controversial goal stood in the 3-2 victory over Everton to set up an all South London clash – the lack of VAR preventing it being struck off for handball.
“The manager has touched on it that the club has been able to manage the league and the cup at the same time for the last few years,” said the former Reading centre-back, pictured below.
“When we got promoted [in 2016] we had that great FA Cup run in it. I know back when he [Neil Harris] was a player they had a decent run too. It’s definitely good for the club.
“All of the players felt the attention after the Everton game, it was great for us. A win like that gives us a lot of confidence. The key thing is to get that winning mentality back into the group, so we can kick on in the league.”
Millwall have not scored a goal since dumping the Toffees out but could be boosted by the return of Tom Elliott, out since mid January after dislocating his shoulder.
“It will be great to get him back in the squad,” said Cooper.
“It’s not a worry [about the lack of goals]. We’re stopping them at the other end and we always create chances. We’re definitely due a couple, that’s for sure.
“The gaffer has told us that all our focus is on the cup, to forget the league for the next few days. It will be massive for the club if we can get to the quarter finals again. We need to impose ourselves and make sure we get into the next round.”
The Lions have kept successive home clean sheets after Tuesday’s 0-0 draw with Sheffield Wednesday.
“You can sense the edginess after the start to the season where we have conceded a lot of late goals,” said Cooper. “To get that out of our game now, we showed we can be steady at the end.”
