Alex Neil admits going behind to Sheff Wed spurred Millwall on to victory

Millwall boss Alex Neil felt that going behind against Sheffield Wednesday spurred his team on to win 2-1.

Jamal Lowe put Wednesday ahead in the 60th minute, scoring their first goal since Boxing Day, but Millwall hit back to win with two goals in two minutes after Cole McGhee turned the ball into his own net and substitute Macaulay Langstaff grabbed the winner.

Neil said: “I always thought it was going to be a tough match. In the first half, we had enough opportunities to score the first goal. We weren’t clinical enough at times.

“And then I thought there was a little bit of anxiousness crept into our game because we didn’t get that first goal.

“We make an error, they manage to then score. And strangely, I thought it sort of settled us down a little bit. And the fact that, ‘right, OK, that’s happened’, now we need to respond and react.

“I thought the lads had come on, I thought it helped us, I thought it had a good impact on the game.

“Tommy (Watson) does a great bit of footwork, I think Josh Coburn links it really well, finds him and then a great bit of footwork for the first one.

“We’re a bit unfortunate, the other one I think was about two centimetres that it doesn’t cross the line with. I think we all expected that to be a goal.

“So like I say, can we play better? Yeah, of course we can. But what I will say at this level, when you’ve got a team that sits in, they defend well, they’re steadfast. They’ve lost their last game 4-0, so the last thing they want to do is go and concede goals.”

Sheffield Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen was encouraged by his team’s performance.

He said: “A tough, tough opponent today, a physical monster opponent. How much physical power they could bring into the game.

“We knew it’s a top team from the league, we know they are physically strong, we know the vertical play, second ball, set-pieces that maybe the best in the league. But how we manage this game today, how we defend, how we press, how we protect on goal and all the set-pieces. It was very positive.

“I think also how we manage the game offensively today was, it was strong because we know Millwall with the physical power is a fantastic pressing team.

“And how we played a little bit more direct, how we run more with them and how we won a lot of second ball against them. So I think in general, a strong performance from our four senior players and seven young guys.

“I think it was strong goal. I think when you play against Millwall, and again, we see a lot of games, but how many chances they are creating for set-pieces, it’s very, very tough to play against.

“And how we managed and how few chances we gave away today from this, it was strong from our side.”