SHAUN Hutchinson typified Millwall’s defensive resilience with an “immense” performance in the 1-1 draw against Bristol City, according to Lions boss Gary Rowett.
The Robins had just one shot on target, after Birmingham City had none in the 0-0 draw between the sides last Wednesday.
Rowett switched to a back four against Lee Johnson’s side, with Alex Pearce dropping to the bench.
“We’ve played a back five, a back four, either way we’ve got a really good structure. We’ve been really hard to play against,” Rowett said.
“The bit that every team in this division looks for, and it usually costs a lot of money, is just that top end of the pitch. That’s not a criticism of the players, they’ve worked incredibly hard. But in the Championship every week I see goals where someone turns, little bit of skill and sticks it in the top corner to win them the game.
“We’ve got to force our way for those goals rather than find them out of nothing. We’ve got to play so, so well to win a game whereas I see other teams who have not played as well come up with a piece of individual brilliance to win them the match.
“We’ve been really resilient. I thought Shaun Hutchinson typified that, I thought he was absolutely immense second half. To the point that [Famara] Diedhiou feels he’s got to jump towards Hutch with his arm up. It wasn’t a clear elbow but it was a bit reckless. I thought Hutch was brilliant.
“We’ve got really honest players at Millwall and we’re going to give it everything every game to see if we can hang in there.”
Millwall equalised Pedro Pereira’s opener when Tomas Kalas scored an own goal from Connor Mahoney’s corner.
The Lions hadn’t scored in four of their previous six games, and Rowett wants to see more from open play.
He said: “At the moment I feel set-pieces are our most likely way of scoring. That’s the hard bit because you can’t score every game with a set-play. We need to come up with a bit of something unpredictable in general play which is something we haven’t done often enough.”
Image: Millwall FC