NEIL Harris said he’s looking up the table and not just at survival as Millwall head to Sunderland for their second-last away game of the campaign.
The Championship season is drawing to a close and the Lions are edging towards mathematical safety after finding their form in victories over Leicester City and Cardiff City.
But Sunderland will provide a different test this afternoon with Millwall looking for their first away win since the victory at Southampton in Neil Harris’ first game back.
The Black Cats are one of five teams in mid-table who the Lions could catch if they won their remaining three games and Harris is keen for his players to not drop the standards just because the chances of relegation have receded.
He said in his pre-match press conference: “The message for Saturday is that we’re not ripping up any scripts and starting again. We built the blocks and took giant leaps in the last six weeks to get to where we are. We have to finish the job.
“I said to the group afterwards: something still has to happen for us achieve our goal from the 22 February [when Harris replaced Joe Edwards]. And that’s either us pick up more points or teams drop points.
“We’ve taken care of our own business so far. We’ve not waited on anybody else. We’ve not been beaten at Rotherham and Huddersfield in the last minute and then just accepted that we’ll just limp over the line.
“We’ve come back and beat Leicester who were top and beat Cardiff who were in form and in the top half of the league. We want to go to Sunderland and get a result. They’re only six points ahead of us, Sunderland. Their season has been okay and it’s only six points [between us].
“Win and we’ll only be three points behind them and they’ll be looking over their shoulders at Millwall coming. I look at Watford and Swansea above us and I want to chase them down. I’m not resting on where we are at the moment and what we’ve done.
“The thought process is still to make sure we’ve above that dotted line on May 4 at 3 o’clock but we have to set goals as well and command more from the players. I’m not prepared to let standards drop in the changing room or on the pitch.”