NEIL Harris isn’t bothered whether Millwall top their EFL Trophy group as he prioritises improving league form.
Millwall will go into their last group game against Luton on November 8 knowing a win – either after 90 minutes or a penalty shootout – secures them top spot and a home draw in the southern section against a side that finishes in one of the second places.
Goals from Fred Onyedinma and Steve Morison at The Den on Tuesday night were enough to end a six-game winless streak after Josh Wright had shot Gillingham in front.
Harris named six players aged 21 or under in his starting XI, and he will continue with that policy in this competition.
Millwall have a 10-day break to prepare for their next League One clash, against Northampton, and Harris insisted that fixture is the priority as the Lions try to arrest their slide down the table.
“When we go into the next game it’ll be the same again,” Harris said. “It’ll be a different side to the one that plays in the league and it’ll be a side that has young players in it to get the opportunity to play.
“Top spot, second spot, I’m not really fussed in this competition, to be honest. (Tuesday night) hopefully serves us a real purpose in terms of building momentum.
“We’ve got a lot of games to think about between now and Luton.
“We used the international breaks really well last year. We got good a good combination between giving a little bit of time to the players to recharge the batteries and refocus, and we also used the sessions really wisely to focus on the weak areas, consolidate on areas we were improving on and put it all together to come out firing.
“We have to do the same this time, refocus the minds after a busy schedule with not good results. Sometimes you just need a break.
“We’ve now got a lot of time to put on sessions for the players, just to remind ourselves about key areas of the park, individually and collectively to get back into good habits.
“Sometimes with the Saturday-Tuesday schedule it’s difficult to do that. You’ve only got little periods of time to plan and set up sessions to work on those areas.”
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