Alex Neil credits composure for helping Millwall see off Sheffield Wednesday

Millwall head coach Alex Neil felt his side’s 1-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday was down them producing a more relaxed performance in the second half.

Without a win in their previous three games in the Sky Bet Championship, the Lions were laboured in the first 45 minutes against the team cut adrift at the bottom of the table.

They then passed up a succession of chances after half-time, before Femi Azeez struck on his return from injury to lift the hosts to fourth in the table, although the Owls struck the woodwork twice at The Den.

Neil said: “I think certainly in the first half you could sense a bit of anxiety in the stadium, you could sense a bit of anxiety in the players.

“I thought in the second half we were a lot more threatening – we created a lot of chances.

“If we were more clinical, it would have been a more comfortable evening and I think when you’re not clinical, you then leave it open.

“They’ve had two good opportunities where they’ve hit the woodwork as well, but I thought over the piece we deserved to win the game. We were the more threatening side.

“But these games are never easy – people make out you should just rock up and win, but they drew away at West Brom, they drew away at Birmingham.

“I thought after we scored you could see a bit of confidence come in – it’s amazing that’s not there beforehand.”

Millwall’s Thierno Ballo was denied by Ethan Horvath in the first half before Charlie McNeill rattled the bar for Wednesday early in the second.

Azeez made the decisive breakthrough in the 71st minutes when he headed in Alfie Doughty’s cross, although Jamal Lowe almost levelled for the Owls when he smashed a shot against the outside of the post.

Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen said: “We were all very disappointed with the performance on Sunday (against Sheffield United) and as we spoke about with the team there will be some up and downs, but this was not the day to have a down.

“We were all very disappointed and the reaction from the boys today…I think it was great.

“They did everything that they could today to get a result back home, and for me I saw again our boys play with a big heart, with their big discipline, with their big commitment, their togetherness and also with their courage to play.

“Overall, I think they created more than we did, but we had some big chances in some big moments – two times at 0-0 and we also had the chance to come back at 1-0 down.

“With a little bit of luck, then we could also have scored and got something.”