NEIL Harris admits Millwall must improve their away form if they are to boost their play-off hopes.
The Lions last claimed three league points on the road when they came from two goals down to beat Bury 3-2 at Gigg Lane on November 26.
They lost their next away fixture at Scunthorpe before three creditable draws at AFC Wimbledon, Charlton and Bradford in a run of nine games without defeat in all competitions since mid-December.
Millwall will be expected to get three points when the travel to League One’s bottom side Coventry, whose off-field problems made headlines in last weekend’s 3-0 defeat at Northampton when nine Sky Blues fans were arrested after a pitch invasion to protest against owners Sisu’s management of the club.
Millwall would have moved to within two points of Rochdale in sixth if they had beaten Walsall.
“That’s the frustration, I thought it was a game we could win,” Harris said. “We have to put ourselves under pressure at some stage and say we have to start winning away games as well.
“Our home record has been really good of late, away we’ve been solid with draws. We need to start turning them into victories.
“We want to bridge the gap to the play-offs and make sure we’re right on people’s shoulders and they start panicking about Millwall.
“Everybody is waiting for Millwall to kick on and get into that top six, no one more so than me.
“We have to make sure that when we go to Coventry we pick a side that’s going to be fresh and ready and hungry.
“It’s going to be a difficult game, it could be a difficult afternoon. We saw last week there is unrest within the club.
“My players have to be ready for the challenge on Saturday.”
Harris made two changes to the side that had knocked Watford out of the FA Cup for their clash with the Saddlers, with wingers Jed Wallace and Shane Ferguson starting instead of Fred Onyedinma and Aiden O’Brien.
A feature of the last four games has been double substitutions involving Millwall’s wide players, and Harris could freshen his side up again as they face their third game in six days.
“I thought Jed and Fergie were brilliant when they came on the other day (against Watford),” Harris said.
“We have to be really careful with the youngsters. Aiden and Fred have played a lot of football, they work so hard in our team.
“It was an opportunity for us to get balls into the box, which happened in the first 30 minutes of the game.
“Then you have the opportunity to bring Fred and Aiden off the bench, fresh legs with energy and pace. We saw glimpses but we couldn’t sustain that.”
Image: Millwall FC