MURRAY Wallace was a picture of frustration at the DW Stadium on Saturday evening – as well as being searingly honest after Millwall’s disappointing 1-0 defeat to Wigan.
Wallace was beaten by Jamal Lowe who crossed for Anthony Pilkington and his cross-shot went in off Shaun Hutchinson for the only goal in the 57th minute.
The Scottish defender admitted too many Lions players were not at their best. The visitors had just one shot on target, Jed Wallace’s free-kick that was saved by David Marshall.
Millwall face Birmingham City at The Den on Wednesday when they will be trying to reduce a gap to the top six that extended to seven points after the defeat to the Latics.
“Going away to Preston last week and getting such a big result put us back in touching distance of those top-six spots,” Wallace said, “then we come here this week and maybe our attitude is wrong, we might have thought it would be an easy game and we simply haven’t performed.
“I’m frustrated with the goal, but as a team we are disappointed because that’s not us playing to our best.
“There was just too many of us that weren’t at it and sometimes you can get away with one or two, but as a team we weren’t at it.
“At times we didn’t get our press right, our shape was a little disjointed and that allowed them to get in a lot. We didn’t fix it in the second half, we just didn’t get it right.
“Regardless of where we are in the league, after a defeat you want to bounce back quickly. We are quite lucky we’ve got a game midweek because you never want to sit and linger on a defeat for too long.
“We just need to get our heads back down and get back to what we are good at on Wednesday night and see where that takes us.”
One of the only positives for Gary Rowett’s side on Saturday was the performance of Mason Bennett, who came on for his debut and played on the left in front of Wallace.
Bennett looked sharp and his pace forced the previously attack-minded right-back Nathan Byrne into more defensive work.
Bennett had two shots that went wide and he felt he should have had a penalty when another attempt appeared to strike the arm of Cedric Kipre.
Wallace was impressed with his new team-mate: “I thought he was brilliant when he came on, to be fair to him.
“He looked really dangerous, taking on players, really powerful. I felt he did well when he came on, we had a few chances and could have got back into it.”
Image: Millwall FC