Alex Neil delighted with Millwall’s fast start in seeing off QPR to go second

Alex Neil got exactly the start he demanded from his Millwall side after they brushed aside QPR with a 2-0 win to get their Sky Bet Championship promotion push back on track.

Lions supporters will have been forgiven for feeling some tension when they arrived at The Den after seeing their team win just one of their previous five games.

QPR were also unbeaten in five, but they were unable to cope with a terrific opening from their hosts who scored twice in the first 17 minutes through Derek Mazou-Sacko – his first goal for the club – and Camiel Neghli.

After comfortably managing the remainder of the game, Millwall moved up to second in the table, one point ahead of Ipswich who face fellow promotion chasers Middlesbrough on Sunday.

Neil said: “I thought we needed to start fast. We needed to get the fans onside, we needed to be aggressive, we needed to try and pin them in, sustain pressure.

“We just needed to get ourselves on top of them – we’ve done that so often at home this season and you can see with other games, it’s not easy to win at this stage of the season.

“But I thought today we certainly got that monkey off our back; I thought we attacked it, I thought we were aggressive.

“The disappointing thing, for me, at half-time was we weren’t more than two goals in the lead because I thought we deserved that.

“We then had the best chance in the second half, with Josh Coburn’s one across the face (of goal) – where their keeper makes a brilliant save – and I thought we managed the game really well.

“I can’t really remember them having a chance of note.”

Millwall flew out of the traps and led after three minutes when Femi Azeez’s cross was cleared as far as Mazou-Sacko, who powered in an excellent first-time finish from just outside the area.

Neghli added a second for the Lions when he received the ball from Mazou-Sacko and chopped inside before bending his shot into the far corner.

QPR boss Julien Stephan said: “The way how we came on the pitch and the lack of intensity in the first half, I think we struggled a lot and it was not a surprise to see the intensity of how they started the game.

“Winning the duels, picking up the second balls was a key point for us today.

“We spoke about that a lot before the game, but we didn’t succeed in finding a way – in the first half – to compete.

“That’s why we needed to change a lot of things during half-time, making four changes.

“I think it was better during the second half, not enough to create a strong momentum or to score one goal but enough to change the balance of power.

“We have some players who have come back from long injuries and we need to manage their playing time, so trying to stay competitive is the challenge for us until the end of the season.”