Gary Rowett admitted that he was “annoyed” with Millwall’s first-half performance in their 4-1 win against Barnsley at The Den on Saturday afternoon.
The Lions ran riot in South London against a struggling Tykes side. A brace from Danny McNamara and a goal each from Oliver Burke and Benik Afobe moved Millwall to within four points of the top six with five games remaining.
“It feels good winning 4-1″, said Rowett.
“There were certain parts of the game we knew would be a test – Barnsley move the ball quite well in the midfield areas.
“We were very sloppy early on in the game, and they created a couple of early chances – that was poor.
“We score a good goal to go in 1-0 up, but I was really annoyed at half-time, and I told the players that I felt the game was one that we hadn’t truly committed that extra ten per cent that you need to win these games.
“First half was not good enough to get us anywhere near where we want to be. But the players, as usual, responded, and the response was a much better performance and a deserved three points.
“We came out in the second half and scored a very good early goal, great bit of skill from Benik Afobe on the touchline, and Scotty Malone whips a great ball in for Danny McNamara – we’ve been waiting a long time for his first goal, and then he goes and scores his second one quickly.
“Symptomatic of parts of the first half, we then go and concede a sloppy goal at the other end, and you’ve got to work again. From there on, we started to control the chances and the game.
“Certainly, we looked very threatening, and we could have had one or two more goals.”
Photos: Brian Tonks