MILLWALL captain Steve Morison is refusing to use tiredness as an excuse for the side’s poor recent run of results.
Having lost just once in 11 games before a busy December and festive schedule, the Lions’ 2-1 defeat at Barnsley last Saturday was their fifth in seven games in all competitions.
A sustained run in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and 12 Tuesday night games – seven of them away from home – in the first half of the season has left Neil Harris’ small squad looking off the pace recently.
Barring any more postponements, Millwall are not scheduled to play another Tuesday league fixture away from The Den for the rest of the season.
But Morison believes footballers should be physically and mentally ready for the demands of a relentless season.
“Your life fits around football. If you’re doing it the opposite way around you’re not doing it right,” Morison said. “It’s what we live for. It is a tough period, don’t get me wrong, but I bet the teams at the top of the table don’t feel tired now.
“They’re winning, and when you’re losing you can start using (tiredness) as a bit of an excuse. It’s a fun time of year. You can pick up points, you can drop points and we’ve come through the Christmas period and not a lot has changed in the league.
“The teams at the top have got a little bit further away, but nothing’s changed massively, you’re still one or two wins away from being in the play-off places. It’s not the end of the world and we’ll just keep going.”
Millwall travel to Oldham on Saturday for their rescheduled League One clash, and Morison recognises the importance of getting a positive result against David Dunn’s struggling side before the first leg of the JPT area final against Oxford the following Thursday.
“We want to go into that game next week on the back of a win,” he said. “It was frustrating that we went up to Oldham and it got called off. It’s another team that’s below us but we need to go there with the right attitude to get a result.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a must-win game but it would be nice to go into the Oxford game with a win rather than a game where you’re thinking, ‘We need to win a game soon to get our form back’.”