MILLWALL boss Gary Rowett praised the returning Murray Wallace as well as Mahlon Romeo for nullifying Derby’s wide threat in their 1-0 win at Pride Park.
Wallace (above) started for the first time since January 2 after recovering from a broken foot. He played 67 minutes before being replaced with Shane Ferguson.
With Scott Malone unable to play against his parent club, Alex Pearce played in the middle of a back three with Wallace at left wing-back.
“We had to change it again, Pearcey coming back in – he’s our captain and he defended [Colin] Kazim-Richards really well. He’s a danger with balls wide,” Rowett said.
“[Nathan] Byrne kept getting up against Murray and you could maybe see just a lack of match sharpness from Muzza which we knew he’d have.
“They got a few crosses in from that side but we defended those pretty well. [Craig] Forsyth got a couple of headers on Mahlon [Romeo] early on but then Mahlon just adjusted his position and got a little bit closer and it didn’t happen again.
“We more or less dealt with what Derby threw our way, even the changes late on and changing to a four didn’t really have much impact on what we had to do.
“I’d like us to play better than that, I’d like us to use the ball better than that but to come here and keep a clean sheet and win the game 1-0 – I’m never going to be too fussy about how we do it.
“Murray epitomises what our team is about. He’s had one day’s training and I asked him yesterday how he felt about it. He said, ‘I’ll give it my best’, and he went out there and did really, really well for someone who’s been out of action for a long time.
“We’ve got oodles of character in the squad. Sometimes I’d like us to have a bit more composure, a bit more belief on the ball because I felt we had chances to play but didn’t play as well as we’d have liked.
“We’ve got Coops Jake Cooper who’s playing with a dislocated shoulder at the minute, he’s clearly not at his best and he’s clearly nowhere near full sharpness.
We’re just doing enough to hang in there, we’re hanging into the top 10. We finished eighth last season so our challenge is, can we have a similar season which I think would be a big positive.”
Image: Millwall FC