By Will Scott at Rodney Parade
ALEX Neil thought Millwall were “worthy winners” as they beat Newport County 1-0 in the first round of he EFL Cup.
The League Two outfit started strongly against a heavily-rotated Lions side, but Millwall grew into the game and eventually found the breakthrough when Ryan Leonard turned home Aidomo Emakhu’s cut-back in the 60th minute.
The Lions came close to doubling their lead a number of times as their grip tightened on the match in the final 30 minutes, with Emakhu forcing three fingertip saves from Exiles goalkeeper Jordan Wright.
Neil was pleased with how his side improved over the 90 minutes.
“I thought it was a hard game,” Neil told our paper. “Coming away from home was always going to be difficult.
“Newport didn’t disappoint us. I thought they fought for every ball, the crowd got right behind them. It was a difficult match for us.
“I thought the first probably 20, 25 minutes, we needed to compete and earn the right to play. We probably didn’t do that as well as we would expect ourselves to do.
“I thought we settled down after that. Our use of the ball from that point onwards to half-time was good. I thought we looked dangerous. There were some runs that we should have made that we didn’t make. We weren’t as clean as we should have been.
“I thought the second half was much improved. We were really dangerous. The goalkeeper made three or four great saves from Aidomo alone, made some great saves from Macca [Macaulay Langstaff]. We got into some really dangerous areas.
“Lenny gets the goal, and I thought we deserved to win the game. I certainly think that we were the better team throughout the game. We had the best chances in the game, but we were made to work for it, which is what you would expect.”
Centre-back Kamarl Grant made his first-team debut for Millwall after spending the past eighteen months on loan at Bromley.
Asked how he thought he played, Neil said: “Good. I thought he grew into the game.
“I thought we grew into the game as a team, though. I thought in the first half, our defence was a little bit too deep at times. The midfield became too big.
“That was part of the problem with not picking up second balls. The game was stretched, and we needed to compress the game and make sure we work in tighter spaces.
“But second half, we did all that, and I thought we ran out worthy winners.”
Meanwhile, Millwall have rejected two bids for Emakhu from Wycombe Wanderers this summer.
The Irishman made 25 league appearances for the Lions last season, six of which were starts, and recorded two assists.
Neil thinks Emakhu will play a vital role for his side this campaign.
“Aido’s our player,” Neil said. “We want him to be our player. He’s going to be really important for us this year, and that remains the case.”
