Millwall boss Rowett: We were the better side in second half and weren’t under much pressure in closing stages

BY ALEX GRACE

Gary Rowett felt Millwall were the better of the two sides as they came out on top at Stoke on Easter Monday.

“They’ve got some very physical players in there and some very good, very technical players as well, said Rowett.

“I felt first half, they were the better side.

“We played Jed Wallace around [John Obi] Mikel thinking that he might be able to run off him and get into good positions but actually Mikel’s experience showed in dragging Jed away and into areas he didn’t want to be in.

“They had that extra man in midfield which allowed them to get into the box for some long-range shots. They didn’t create too many chances but neither did we.

“To go in at 1-1 at half-time, I was displeased because we were 1-0 up and conceded a very poor goal, but I couldn’t really complain as I could see it coming.”

Rowett changed things at the break, replacing Ken Zohore with Maikel Kieftenbeld – switching the Lions from a 5-2-3 to a 5-3-2 formation.

Rowett said: “I thought the second half was completely different. We made the change to get another midfielder in there and I thought we controlled the game second half and were the better side

“We had more energy and started to move the ball around – maybe didn’t create quite as many chances as we’d have liked but we got into some very good positions and took the goal very well.

“I know it was a mistake from Danny Batth as he slid in and didn’t quite catch the ball but it was a good finish and we had other good moments as well.

“I thought we were by far the better side second half and then it was whether we could defend properly in the last 10 to 15. We never really came under any serious threat of losing the lead.”