NEIL Harris said Conor McLaughlin and James Meredith were “outstanding” in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Leeds United at The Den on Saturday.
Millwall kept a third clean sheet in eight games in the league this season, with the full-back pair part of a defence that didn’t allow the visitors a shot on target.
The excellence of their performances was illustrated when Leeds boss Thomas Christiansen withdrew both his wide attacking players at the break.
Kemar Roofe and Stuart Dallas came on for Aezgjan Alioski and Pablo Hernandez but made little impact as Millwall got their second league win of the season.
It was Leeds’ first defeat of the season, and the first time they had conceded in seven league games.
Leeds were the top scorers in the league before Saturday, but couldn’t deal with Millwall’s aggression and organisation in defence.
“They’ve got very good individual players and Thomas has them set up very well, really hard to break down,” Harris said.
“They’re very good on the counter-attack and they have very good individual players from foreign leagues with the likes of Dallas and Roofe providing some really good ability in the group.
“Then you have to defend very well one versus one and stop the service to those players, nullify them having space and time to get turned and run at you. It’s hard work.
“Collectively we were excellent, but I thought both full-backs were outstanding.”
Millwall were dominant for almost the entire 90 minutes on Saturday. They had 20 attempts on goal, with front pair Steve Morison and Fred Onyedinma giving the Leeds defence a torrid afternoon with their movement and direct, physical play.
The away side finished with 10 players, after Pontus Jansson went off injured late on with all of the substitutes already used.
Harris said: “We bossed all areas of the park, we were strong in both boxes, had real good end product, went back to front at the right times, and Steve and Fred up top were a handful.
“We got into really good areas and played on the front foot and with intensity, which is definitely important here at The Den.”
Image: Millwall FC