Joe Edwards had mixed feelings after Millwall were handed a second successive Championship defeat.
The Lions lead 1-0 at Leicester at the break thanks to Tom Bradshaw’s second goal of the season. But the home side scored three second half goals to win 3-2 and go back to the top of the league table.
“Mixed feelings because beforehand we know how tough a place this is to come,” said Edwards. “They’ve got some top, top players, you have to get your approach right. If you look at their last game against Plymouth, I respect Plymouth, they are a well coached team. They came here and went toe to toe and got beat 4-0.
Millwall took the lead in the 10th minute when Bradshaw headed in Murray Wallace’s cross.
“We came with a plan to really try and take the space away from them. We knew they would have a lot more of the ball than us; then it’s all about what moments we can take when we get it to punish them. Our goal was one of them, and it was one of the moments when the plan paid off. We limited them to creating very little in the first half through a high work rate and a lot of organisation. We’ve spoken a lot about getting the ball in the box earlier, so it was nice when we regained it within a few seconds. The ball is getting back in the box for Bradders, and that’s what he can do. We remained patient, we got to half-time, and there was a lot of belief in that dressing room.
Millwall conceded within four minutes of the restart when Jannik Vestergaard headed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s cross into an empty net after Matija Sarkic had come rushing out attempting to catch the cross. Patson Daka made it 2-1 before Riccardo added a third for the hosts.
Edwards said. “We come out in the second half, and the plan is very similar but just fine margins and a couple of lapses in concentration from us in and around our box, which is happening a bit too much at the moment, a combination of that and us getting caught where we shouldn’t and then extreme quality from them. That’s how it’s going for us at the minute. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We have to defend better.
“The players are frustrated, angry and disappointed, which is not the worst place to be because we’ve come to Leicester, probably the toughest game on the fixture list, and some people will look at the result and say to be beaten 3-2 is not a bad effort. The Lads know we’ve put ourselves in a great position at 1-0 up at half-time; a lot of us don’t get that opportunity here. The moments that have cost us are moments where we know we should have done better.”
The Lions head coach did have a clear message for his players and the fans ahead of Saturday’s massive clash against Huddersfield.
“Stick together, particularly after tonight. We are angry in there, but to come to Leicester and lose a game it can’t put us into panic mode or dent confidence ahead of Saturday too much. We are coming back to The Den to play a game that is there for us. If we perform well, we can win, but we have to dust ourselves off and go again.”
Image: Millwall FC