Millwall’s two-goal comeback not enough to earn Alex Neil’s praise

Millwall head coach Alex Neil branded his team’s performance “really poor” despite them fighting back from two goals down to earn a draw against Lincoln.

The Lions were undoubtedly poor for the first hour at The Den as they looked set to slide towards back-to-back home defeats in the Championship.

Lincoln led almost from the start thanks to Andrei Coubis’ strike in the opening minute – his first goal in English football – and had chances to be more than 2-0 ahead in south London.

But a scrambled equaliser from Jake Cooper ultimately denied the Imps, who ended the game with 10 men after Deji Elerewe became their third player this week to be sent off.

Neil said: “I thought it was really poor. The first half was probably as poor as we’ve been since I’ve been here.

“I thought we lacked everything that we normally are. We didn’t win enough first duels, we didn’t win enough second balls, we didn’t pass the ball well, we didn’t transition well, we didn’t do anything well.

“Lincoln wanted it more than us – I can’t remember, since I’ve been here, saying that before, but I thought they wanted the game more than we did first half.

“It was as disappointed as I’ve been since I’ve been here, to be honest.

“I brought Luke Cundle on because what I do know with Luke is he’ll get the ball and pass it and he’ll be brave and take it in tight areas.

“I thought once he came on it made us make a few passes, and thank God, because up until that point it was a painful watch.”

Lincoln were ahead after 25 seconds when the ball was cleared as far as Coubis and the Romanian defender fizzed a terrific low drive that went in off the post.

The Imps doubled their lead in the 33rd minute as Rob Street’s shot went through the legs of Millwall goalkeeper Filip Marschall.

Millwall were back in the game after 63 minutes when Kyrell Lisbie scored his first goal for the club after his initial effort was blocked.

And the Lions were level with eight minutes left when their captain, Cooper, forced the ball in from close range after Ryan Leonard’s corner caused havoc.

The hosts sensed a great chance to complete the comeback after Elerewe was sent off for a professional foul on Zak Lovelace, but Lincoln – who were beaten 3-0 at Sheffield United last weekend and 6-0 at West Ham in midweek – held on for the draw.

Their co-head coach Chris Cohen said: “Loads of positives, especially in the way we started, coming off a really emotional week.

“We lost to Sheffield United and obviously an emotional loss on Wednesday (against West Ham) with the way things played out.

“I thought the boys implemented the game plan incredibly well and I thought we were deserving of the lead – whether it was a one or two-goal lead, I thought we were deserving of it.

“We had a couple of monster chances at the start of the second half and if we score them, that maybe takes the game away from them.”