GARY Rowett says the Millwall players are “relaxed” as they remain in the hunt for the top six with 10 Championship games left this season.
The Lions dropped two places in the table after their 0-0 draw against Middlesbrough on Saturday but other favourable results meant they closed the gap to sixth by one point and are three off Sheffield United.
Millwall are still outsiders for the play-offs but since their 3-0 defeat to Fulham on February 8 – which left them 15th, eight points off sixth – they have won five and drawn two of their last seven games.
Rowett is fielding more questions on his side potentially gate-crashing the top six but he has been keen not to make that the focus in the last part of the season.
“It’s funny because the closer you get the more people start talking about it. I got asked that outside, our next game is a massive game – I think every game is a massive game. But I understand the questions,” Rowett said.
“For us, we’re trying to get through what we can get through, we’re trying to enjoy what we’re doing, trying to win games of football.
“We’ve got a brilliant home record at the moment, it’s been excellent. But I don’t think we’re looking too far ahead.
“Look, we’ve had three years where we’ve been in and around the top six, where we’ve had chances to challenge for the top six. At the moment it’s about getting players back, how can the players recover, how can we find a way to be competitive again Wednesday [against Huddersfield].
“I think the players are really relaxed, they’re enjoying it at the moment. We’re disappointed we couldn’t win today but we take the positives out of the performance and see where we are.
“Teams like Middlesbrough, there’s far more pressure on them to be in and around the top six. Chris [Wilder] has done a great job, they were below us when we first played them. But it’s like anything, when you start winning games people start talking about the top six.
“For us, that’s not a massive expectation. We’ll give it a good go of winning games.”
Millwall are now seven games unbeaten, matching their best run of the season.
Rowett was asked whether it could be a worry that it becomes a distraction trying to keep that run going rather than taking more risks in games.
“No – I think that’s a bloody lovely distraction to have! I can say that for sure,” he replied. “I don’t think we’re ever in a position to protect things. We’ve just got a lack of options to go for things in the way that you would conventionally go for it. That’s the challenge, really.
“There have been times when it’s been really hard to take the likes of Jed [Wallace], Benik [Afobe] and Mason [Bennett] off because they’ve been the three senior strikers. So asking one of the younger players to come on and win us the game is actually quite difficult.
“We’ve always tried to win home games. Maybe today I could have had a gamble late on with the formation but I don’t think there was any obvious gamble to make.
“It’s certainly something we would be aware of if we were drawing games when we need to start winning them. At that point you have to throw a bit of caution to the wind.
“But at the moment we’re picking points up. We’ve picked a lot of points up in the last seven games, 17 points – it’s a great haul from a team that haven’t got many players available.”
Image: Millwall FC