'It was cagey at times': Gary Rowett's relief at Millwall's narrow win over Blackpool

The Lions claimed a 2-1 win against Michael Appleton’s side in front of a subdued and sometimes anxious crowd at The Den.

The game was there to be won for the Seasiders but they lacked real quality in the final third, slumping to a second defeat in four days as a result.

As for Millwall, Rowett was pleased with how his side bounced back after a disappointing run at the start of the season.

His side had lost three of their last four games heading into today’s game and five of their first nine encounters of the campaign.

But Rowett’s men found a way to get over the line against Blackpool even if it wasn’t the prettiest of spectacles in the capital.

“I thought in the first half, for various reasons, it was a little bit cagey at times,” Rowett told Southwark News.

“You could see we didn’t look quite as fluid as we’d like on the ball. I thought some of our build-up play was quite good.

“It’s always difficult, and I understand the frustration, I understand that the fans want the ball to go forward quicker but we’re not set up in that way, we’re not set up to do that.

“We can do that with quality, and I think there’s definitely opportunities where we can play forward into those areas, but the players have to be brave and that’s why I was so pleased in the second half.

“We scored a good goal and had some good moments in the first half. Scoring the first goal was a big thing for us because we’ve conceded first on eight occasions out of 10 this season, that gives you a mountain to climb.

“I thought we might build on that and I think we did for a little bit. Then they get the goal, it’s a poor goal from our perspective. The ball gets cut back, we should stop the cross, striker comes off us in the box and has time, he sets one of his players who runs off us and scores. It’s just another soft goal for us.

“That’s what I said to the players at half-time. I said ‘listen, I need you to be brave. Do what I want you to do and see if you can do it, then you’re going to have to accept that it’ll get a little edgy if it doesn’t work but go and do it, trust me on it.'

“I thought in the second half we moved the ball a lot better. I thought there were some really good bits of interplay with Callum Styles, Scotty [Malone], Benik [Afobe], Zian [Flemming]. I thought there were some excellent little moments and with a bit more quality we would’ve probably scored one or two more.”

The result sees Blackpool drop down the Championship table to 19th ahead of their two-week international break.