Millwall boss Gary Rowett gives verdict on 1-0 win over Stoke City

Millwall manager Gary Rowett had praise for his players after their 1-0 win over Stoke City this afternoon.

The Lions were poor at Norwich City last Sunday, losing 3-1 at Carrow Road, and it led to the travelling fans directing negative chants at the experienced boss.

Rowett made four changes for today’s Championship fixture and summer signing Kevin Nisbet’s first-half goal ensured they picked up their first three points since the opening day success at Middlesbrough.

“I’m pleased for the players,” said Rowett. “I said last week it wasn’t cause for concern. I’m sure I’m still the same manager I was last week – a little bit happier. But I understand it – when you pay your money (as fans) you take your choice.

“I knew our fans would get behind us if we put relevant energy and relevant aggression into the game. That’s what we gave them first half – we were very good. We played on the front foot, we played forward early and supported quickly. We played off those second balls. We caused Stoke quite a lot of problems with that performance.

“It’s a lovely finish by Nizzy, just the calmness around him when he is in and round the box. He is one of those players where it looks like everything slows down for him. He seems to pick the right moment and right finish for the right occasion.

“It was a good goal and we maybe had one or two moments after that. Stoke changed at half-time and made a good tactical change – bringing (four) players on, which summed up our first-half performance. They benefitted from it, they’ve got a lot of good wingers one v one and they started to stretch the game a little bit. We had to make similar changes to try and stop it.

“We have dug in second half and been resilient, we could’ve passed the ball a bit better and stepped out a little quicker but it is what it is, we’ve had to ride our luck a little bit at the end but it was a good clean sheet and a good performance – much-needed after last week.”