GARY Rowett praised Millwall’s diligence as he reacted to his side’s 2-0 win at Plymouth.
A trip to Home Park appeared a daunting task for the inconsistent London side but they pulled through and grabbed a deserved 2-0 victory.
Second half goals from Zian Flemming and George Saville, his first of the season, sealed the points as Millwall bounced back from the weekend disappointment against Swansea City.
Rowett said he wanted his players to be patient and exploit the moments when they eventually came against newly-promoted Argyle.
He said: “I think we needed to respond from our previous game at home which we weren’t happy about but this is what the Championship’s made of. You’ve got to move on very quickly and you’ve got to try to find a way to win the next game.
“When I saw Plymouth away I knew it would be a tough game. We’ve seen them play and we’ve seen a lot of their games at home – the likes of the Norwich game where they have a lot of quality, they’ve got a lot of energy, they’ve got a lot of confidence. And with the crowd you could feel all the excitement and the way they moved the ball.
“I thought that would be a test for us today. Our game plan really was to sit a little bit deeper, maybe just see if they could break us down and entice them forward and I just felt like that would open up some spaces for us on the transition. We’ve been good at that. When we played against Middlesbrough first day of the season, we did exactly the same thing.
“We were patient, we waited, we were diligent. You have to ride some of those defensive moments but you’ve just got to wait. Wait for that moment of brilliance and I think Duncan Watmore showed it. Lovely touch, brought it down, cuts inside, a lovely flick pass with the outside of his foot to Zian. Good timing with his run, just splits the defence and lifts it over the keeper. It’s a really good, quality finish.
“And then I think it was just whether we could ride the storm. I think they’re a good side and they’ll win a lot of games here but you know they had a lot of shots from distance and I don’t think they had too many really good chances. There were a lot of balls in the box that you have to defend and there was one at the end where Coops slips over and you think ‘is that the mistake that gets them back in the game?’ But I think another defender comes round, Murray Wallace, and clears it.
“I thought we were diligent, and that’s what it’s about, and we did enough to stop them breaking us down.”
“It doesn’t half make you feel good because you know the game’s over then. It’s a lovely finish, it’s a lovely strike, he just curled it away from the keeper’s outstretched arm and when it nestled in the back of the net certainly, for us, that was a big moment. A big moment for our travelling fans because plenty of them came down and it’s a bloody long way to get here, isn’t it? It’s a long way to come for nothing so certainly we’ll feel a little bit better going home.”
