GARY Rowett says there is no “magic formula” to turning around Millwall’s home form as they prepare for a “shootout” against Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday.
The Lions haven’t won any of their last seven league games at The Den since beating Reading 2-0 on January 18.
Millwall hadn’t won away in the Championship this season when Rowett took over from Neil Harris in October. Rowett switched to 5-2-3 and they won his first game on the road, 1-0 at Swansea, and have followed that up with another six victories away from home.
With games being played behind closed doors it deprives Millwall of one of their main advantages over opponents: a hostile home crowd.
“We can’t put fans in there, can we? That’s the biggest psychological difference, not having the fans there,” Rowett said.
“The thing is in a lot of the games we’ve actually performed quite well. We played well against Swansea, could have won the game but didn’t. I thought we performed really well against Fulham, really well against Bristol and should have beaten them but didn’t.
“Most of the games have been pretty tight but we haven’t had the wins we’d like. I don’t think there’s one big thing we can do. It’s very different to what we did when we came in in terms of the away form.
“Because we turned that around so well I don’t necessarily think there’s a magic formula for the home form.
“We’ve just got to be a little bit more dangerous and in order to do that we have to do certain things a little bit better.”
Millwall could go into the final two games of the season in the top six, or five points off the play-offs, depending on the combination of midweek results.
Tony Mowbray’s Blackburn are one of seven clubs vying for sixth and sit just two points off the Lions.
Rowett said: “From the games I’ve seen they press very well. They play a 4-3-3 formation quite well. Tony’s a seasoned operator, he gets his sides very organised but they also play good football with some technically talented players.
“We’re going to have to defend better than we did in certain spaces in the Hull game and we’re going to have to play with as much brightness as we did in the first half for most of the game.
“Blackburn went to Cardiff and were behind before winning the game, so they’re certainly in there fighting. They’re a good side.
“As usual, we have to focus on our game and hope it’s enough to win the game. It’s a bit of a shootout and there’s no room for error now.”
Image: Millwall FC