MILLWALL boss Gary Rowett fears that Tom Bradshaw has suffered a serious injury after he went off in the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Bradshaw hurt his knee in the 28th minute and was replaced with Mason Bennett.
Bradshaw, 29, suffered cruciate ligament damage in 2018. He signed a new deal with the Lions this week.
Jed Wallace – the subject of bids from Forest – was ruled out through injury, as was George Saville.
Forest won it in the 91st minute through Lewis Grabban’s goal.
“It’s a bitter pill to swallow,” Rowett said. “That’s Championship football, isn’t it, if the game becomes end to end for different reasons what you’ve got to do is take your chance. We had a couple of really good ones second half.
“What you can’t do then is make silly decisions. Not long before it we take a short corner and it’s at a point where you just put the ball in the box and see if we can get on the end of something.
“Mason’s [Bennett] run 60 yards across the pitch, he’s on his backside on the floor, we take a throw-in and there’s only Benik [Afobe] up there. We lose the ball and they end up going and scoring.
“It’s just little moments in the game that perhaps we need to manage a little bit better. Whether that’s the individual player doing it or other players around, just say ‘hold it, wait’.
“I appreciate we want to win the game but there’s got to be a chance of winning that game in that moment otherwise you see what happens, you lose the game.
“I thought first half we were the team in the ascendancy, the better team. We had some good moments and chances early on, some good opportunities on goal and the keeper has made a couple of really good saves.
“We had a bit of a challenge yesterday because there were two players who were waiting on PCR tests who couldn’t train. They finally got them through negative this morning so they were available, but they hadn’t trained.
“We lost Saville yesterday to injury, we lost Jed to injury but it didn’t look too serious.
“So we had to think on our feet a little bit in terms of one or two positions on the bench to change the game.
“What you can’t afford to do in that situation is lose two attacking players. To lose Tom Bradshaw to what looks like a serious injury. He felt something pop in his knee. I’m hopeful that’s not too bad but it doesn’t look great.
“Sheyi [Ojo] has rolled his ankle just before half-time and couldn’t continue second half.
“We tried everything we could second half to see if we could win the game. Maybe just that ability to keep the attacking players on for Forest and then to be able to add to that late on in the game with a little bit more energy gave them that moment to win the game.
“I’m disappointed because I thought there were so many positives to take out of the game.
“Forest had more of the game second half, I thought they looked quite dangerous at times but I still think it’s a game we deserved something out of.
“We didn’t get it because we made a poor decision.
“It was an entertaining end-to-end game where both teams are trying to do their bit to win the game.
“That’s what happens sometimes. Steve [Cooper] will be coming in and I’m sure he’ll be absolutely elated that they’ve taken the three points.
“For us it’s a real disappointment because you work so hard all season and we’ve played so well recently but haven’t had the rub of the green and the results to match our performances.
“I thought it was another really strong home performance. Even if we’re coming away a bit disappointed but take away a point from the game there are so many positives. When you lose a game in the 92nd minute it feels like a bitter blow.
“Listen, that’s football. You’ve got to do the right things all game and today we made probably one crucial error and they punished us for it.”
Rowett was asked for more detail on Wallace’s injury.
He replied: “He’s had a little quad strain. He trained Tuesday and Thursday and just felt his quad Friday.
“He’s had it scanned. I don’t think it’s particularly serious but there’s something there to concern him.
“Sav was his neck, nothing serious but, again, to lose two players like that and then to lose two within the first half of the game was a really difficult situation to be in.
“We’ve spoken about strengthening the group in this window, trying to bring at least one attacking player in. That might make it a little bit different, that we might need to bring two or three in now.
“Because of course a couple of injuries like that put you on the back foot.”
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