Alex Neil relieved to see Millwall get over the line against Derby

Head coach Alex Neil admitted Millwall struggled to see the game out against a physical Derby side as they just about held on for a vital 1-0 victory at The Den.

It was the Lions’ fourth straight win in the Sky Bet Championship, and seventh in nine games, as Josh Coburn’s header just before half-time moved them one point behind second-placed Middlesbrough.

But they found themselves under increasing pressure in the closing stages as the Rams passed up a succession of opportunities, with them unable to cut the gap on the play-off places as a result.

Neil said: “You could see the difficulty that we couldn’t keep the ball at the top end of the pitch because when we took Josh and Femi [Azeez] off, Matt Clarke was heading the ball 60 yards up the pitch every single time.

“It meant we were defending our box for the last five minutes, but the earlier I did that I knew that was going to be a problem, and I tried to delay it but I also need to protect some of my players.

“I knew with every player I was putting on we were getting smaller and smaller, but we’ve done what we needed to do.

“For 60 minutes, I thought we were comfortably the better side.

“We deserved it over the piece, we rode out luck at the end – they missed one or two opportunities which we probably should have defended better, but the game lost its shape completely.”

Millwall took the lead after 43 minutes when Tristan Crama did well to hook the ball into the six-yard box for Coburn to head in.

Patrick Agyemang and Carlton Morris passed up huge chances for Derby in the second half before the former struck a post in stoppage time.

Derby boss John Eustace said: “I’m obviously very disappointed with losing the game because in the second half I thought we were excellent.

“We have to be better in both boxes. First half I thought we dealt with a lot of pressure, but we probably weren’t competitive enough in midfield.

“We made a good change at half-time which certainly allowed us to be more competitive and more on the front foot, and we’re disappointed not to have at least come away with a point.

“We’ve played Hull now, who are fifth, and we’ve played Millwall, who are third, and we’ve gone toe-to-toe with two very good teams.

“I felt like we could have got more out of both of those games.

“You can talk about performances as much as you like, but it’s about winning, and we haven’t won the two games, but I think you can see the progression we’ve made throughout the season.”