Millwall boss Neil Harris has delivered his verdict on the key to his team’s win over Sunderland
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Neil Harris admitted that his side’s win over Sunderland was a game that lacked quality from both teams, but praised his players for buying into the ‘Millwall traits’ he’d demanded of them.
Harris admitted his side had made a clean sheet their primary focus coming into the game at the Stadium of Light, hoping they would then find a moment to snatch the three points. They were able to do that thanks to Duncan Watmore’s late strike, a goal that all but secured their Championship safety.
"Both teams.. I think both myself and Mike will be a little bit disappointed with how we handled the ball at times,” Harris said.
“The game didn't have bundles of quality in it, I think it was a fairly typical end of April game of football. We came searching for a clean sheet today and I make no bones about that, we came with the mentality to get a clean sheet. We wanted to still try and have an attacking threat, of course we did, but the important thing for us was the clean sheet. We did that and I'm delighted with that, and then we just needed that moment to score the goal.
"We had resilience and desire in abundance today, all the Millwall traits,” he added.
“I couldn't have envisaged being in this position when I took over seven weeks ago, being level on points with teams in the bottom three. To win six in 11 is a great achievement from the players, I'm loud and demanding and they've met my demands. The players have responded brilliantly, for me I just want to praise them for buying into what I've asked. We've tried to teach the players in a short space of time what it takes to be a really good Millwall team, fortunately nine of them I either signed or gave them their debuts when I was here previously - but even the young lads from Premier League have bought into how you have to play at Millwall."
Harris paid tribute to matchwinner Duncan Watmore and says he is hopeful that he will be able to help realise the 30-year-old’s obvious talent into next season.
"Wherever Dunc has been, the fans have loved him,” Harris said.
“He's growing at Millwall, unfortunately he's had a lot of injuries over the course of his career and he hasn't been able to play the amount of football that he's deserved. He's had to adjust his game and I really like him, he's a top, top pro. He's as honest as they come and every manager says the same. He has real ability as well and my job next season is to keep him on the pitch as much as I can, and you do that by building trust. A lot of honest, frank conversations. We've built trust really quickly, it won't have been nice for the Sunderland fans to see him score a goal today but I think they'll be pleased to see him on the football pitch on the whole."
