GARY Rowett joked he is going to try to sign anyone called ‘Wallace’ in the final days of the transfer window after Jed again came to his side’s rescue against Blackpool.
The Lions were 1-0 down to the visitors – who played with 10 men from the 14th minutes after Callum Connolly had been sent off – when Wallace scored a brilliant free-kick in the 63rd minute before curling in a superb 90th-minute cross that was headed home by Jake Cooper for the winner.
Murray Wallace had scored two goals last Tuesday as the Lions also came from behind to beat Cambridge United 3-1 in the second round of the EFL Cup.
Saturday was Millwall’s first league victory this season in their fifth game.
“I did say to the players after can I please not have any more games like that because I was going to have a heart attack at one point. We don’t make it easy, do we?” Rowett said.
“I think the game to a certain degree was synonymous with the fact we haven’t started as well as we would have liked points-wise. There was a little bit of nervousness around the place.
“It felt like today was almost like a must-win game. And to a certain degree when Blackpool went down to 10 men – I’m not saying it makes it harder – but they can get behind the ball and look to counter-attack. They’re actually really good at doing it, they’ve got a lot of pace in the side.
“They looked like they could get something on the counter and of course the goal comes from that.
“We looked a bit nervous, we moved the ball too slowly and didn’t quite get it into the areas we would want to often enough.
“But, what I would say is we had loads of territory, set-pieces, plenty of shots and we just didn’t make enough of those moments tell with the right quality.
“We should make a tactical foul for the goal, it was poor play from us, the lad’s run past about two or three of ours without ours bringing him down.
“They get a bit of fortune with a deflection when Bart [Bialkowski] comes out, I think the momentum of Muzza and the forward takes it into his path and he finishes it off.
“At that point down to 10 men and 1-0 down as a manager five games into the season isn’t particularly the position you want to be in, shall I say. That’s me being facetious.
“But we’ve showed a little bit of character today, it would have been easy to go under. I thought the fans could have easily got on to us and they didn’t. It was a bit of an edgy atmosphere but I thought they stayed behind the team. They stayed with the team and that was hugely important.
“And Jed once again – I’ve spoked there to Jed and Muzza and said after the last two games I’m just going to go and try and sign anyone called Wallace in the last three days, anybody, doesn’t matter – because certainly Jed today was a game changer. It’s simple.
“You look to your big players to come up with those moments and he’s done it so often. It’s a wonderful, wonderful free-kick. Under pressure. It’s a great way to equalise.
“It was just whether we could make the next one count. Evo [George Evans] makes the keeper make a save and you don’t think at that point you’re going to win.
“And it’s Jed again, set-piece gets cleared and Jed spins and whips a great ball into the box and we’ve got two or three lining up and it was Coops who gets his head on it.
“I was pleased for him because we’ve been on at him to get his head on more things when it goes into the box and he’s certainly come up with the goods today.”
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