RYAN Woods believes Millwall are exceeding expectations to still be in the play-off conversation with 10 games left this season.
Midfielder Woods said the Lions would be giving it a “real good go” with ten games left in the 2019-20 campaign.
Millwall were in the bottom four in the relegation odds last summer, after they only ensured their Championship safety with one game left last season.
“We haven’t really set a target, it’s just about giving it a real good go,” Woods said. “We’ve given ourselves a real chance so why not have a proper go for these last games of the season and see where it takes us.
“It would be amazing if we could make it but we’ll see what happens.
“A lot of people wouldn’t have expected us to be where we are at this time in the season, especially after last year. The lads have done the majority of the work and I’ve come in to help out as much as possible.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good position, it’s down to us as a group to see how far we can get ourselves.”
The last ten games could bring an end to Woods’ short Millwall career, if the club decides not to take up the option of buying him from Stoke in the next transfer window.
Woods, 26, has started nine league games for the Lions since his January loan switch, having lost his place in the Stoke side at the start of December.
He admits it’s not ideal that he doesn’t know where he will be playing next season, but his only concern is playing well enough to ensure the Lions make the move permanent.
“It would be nice to know, but at the end of the day I’m just enjoying playing regularly again and being around a good set of lads,” Woods continued. “I’m enjoying the surroundings and that’s the most important thing.
“Things will take care of themselves at the end of the season. I’m sure it will happen sooner rather than later.
“I can’t honestly answer [whether he has a Stoke future] because I honestly don’t know. Other things will take care of themselves. Whether I come here, it’s down to my performances.
“It’s been brilliant, I’ve been out with the lads a number of times for food and what not. It’s helped the number of games I’ve had to play, people really get to know the real you after a full 90 minutes of football.
“I feel like I’m getting there with every single game. Sometimes it’s hard going on a Tuesday or Wednesday after a Saturday, but that’s what everyone wants to do. That’s all I’ve ever known until Stoke.
“It’s been great to be able to do that again and get into a real rhythm. Hopefully the more games I play the better I’ll get.
“I’m really enjoying my time here.”
Woods has struck up a good midfield partnership with Jayson Molumby, and he’s a fan of the youngster.
Woods added: “He’s a good lad, I get on with him really well off the pitch as well. It seems like we’ve gelled quite well, quite easily.
“We’re picking a lot of second balls up, which is really important, especially for the size of us because we’re not two of the biggest lads in this division in midfield.
“We complement each other well, we’ve got different attributes. It’s going well.”
Molumby thought he was denied a clear penalty against Bristol City last Saturday when he was taken out in the box by Adam Nagy, but referee Andy Davies ignored the appeals.
Despite the obvious mistake, Woods is still not convinced VAR is improving decision-making. “The system probably works, but it’s just down to the human error that is involved in it. So it doesn’t really get away from anything that’s been happening for years and years, there’s still human error.
“Until you cut the human error out it’s probably a bit pointless.
“I took the corner from the other side, and I even had a word with the linesman on my side because it looked like a penalty. It was sloppy from their player, he didn’t know Jayson was there. Anywhere else on the pitch you get a foul.”
The Lions were 1-0 down to City after difficult first half, but Woods believes the way they worked their way back into the game showed their spirit.
“People were disappointed because of the performance in the first 20, 25 minutes more than anything,” Woods admitted. “But I think we showed unbelievable character to come back in the second half the way we did, we can be really proud of that.
“We knew it hadn’t been good enough, but we were more aggressive second half. We had them on the ropes and on another day our centre-forwards would get on the end of those crosses flashed across the box.
“We can hear the crowd when they get behind us. They were obviously frustrated at half-time, they knew it wasn’t good enough and so did we.
“Second half we showed the real us and gave it a really good go. If we’d played like that the whole game we wouldn’t have had any problems.”
If Woods starts this Friday against Nottingham Forest he will likely be facing Ben Watson, the Camberwell-born former Crystal Palace midfielder who scored the winner for Wigan against Manchester City in the 2013 FA Cup final.
Woods doesn’t hesitate when asked who is the most difficult opponent he has faced.
“That’s easy, that’s [Cesc] Fabregas. It was against Chelsea [in a 4-0 FA Cup defeat for Brentford]. What I liked about him so much was that, nowadays a lot relies on your physical attributes, but he was so much quicker in his head than anyone else that that didn’t matter.
“As long as you’re clever upstairs it doesn’t matter about your physical attributes. He knew the next pass before he got the ball. Everything was one-, two-touch. He knew if he had more than two touches.
“He did unbelievable things in his career. It would have been a joy to play alongside him every week.
“I’ve played against [Watson] a lot previously so I know what he’s about. He’s been around for years, he’s had a good career. He’s one of those players that can hurt you if you give him time and space, but we’re not planning to do that.
“At the end of the day it’s about ourselves, not anyone else. If we can go there and perform the way we did second half against Bristol City we’ll have a good chance.”
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