Millwall can make it more than EIGHT HOURS without conceding at Stoke City

Millwall can make it more than eight hours without conceding a goal at Stoke City tomorrow – but manager Gary Rowett insists there has been no special focus that has seen them chain together clean sheets.

The Lions are just two points behind sixth-placed QPR after an excellent 2-0 win over Huddersfield on Wednesday night.

Goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski has kept five successive shutouts with Millwall taking 20 points from a possible 24.

They also now have the longest unbeaten run in the Championship – eight matches – after ending the Terriers’ 17-game undefeated streak.

The South Londoners need to keep Stoke out for 38 minutes to move past the eight-hour mark, although in reality it would be fewer if you factored in stoppage time from previous games.

“It’s been fabulous,” said Rowett. “There’s been a couple of those games where we’ve had to hang on to our hats – like the Blackburn one where the players looked absolutely out on their feet but still managed to keep a clean sheet. But there have been others where we’ve played really well and kept a clean sheet, like the QPR game and the one Wednesday night.

“Sometimes the clean sheets can become a detrimental focus at times – people see you as far more pragmatic and not attacking. The players have tried to get a really good balance.

“Five clean sheets has shown what a team effort it has been. I’d love to sit here and say we’ve done so much work defensively and trained differently – but we haven’t.

“We’ve just tried to be a bit more consistent in the way we do it.

“It’s done the trick so far, but I’ve seen teams do that and then concede a load of goals in the next five or six games. We certainly can’t drop our guard.

“One of the things we’ve focused on recently is that we’ve got more points than Fulham over something like eight or 10 matches, that’s testament to the players’ hard work.

“But what we continually need to do is recognise it is that hard work which brings us results, not just pure quality that we can rely on. We have to have a blend of everything. There has been some bloody good football as well.”

Tom Bradshaw (knee) could be back in the squad this weekend.

Liverpool winger Sheyi Ojo (ankle) was an unused sub against Huddersfield but returned to the matchday squad.

“We want to get them back so that they are at least available if we’re chasing a game late on,” said Rowett. “But if you don’t need those players you want to try and hold fire and give them another week or few days of training.

“That worked quite well with Sheyi. That will be the same with Bradders. I don’t think Kieftenbeld and Leonard are a million miles behind that either, but they have been out for a while – you can’t expect too much.

“The bench should start to look a little bit stronger. But we also have to be careful we don’t have a bench of players that can only last 15 minutes – because the game doesn’t work that way.

“The aim has been the same – if we can get some back to sit on the bench then great. But realistically we want to try and hold fire, where we can, until after the international break.

“We’ve got a couple of U23 games which we can hopefully drop some of the injured players in and get some fitness while the regulars get a little bit of a breather and down time [over the international break].”