Garry Monk pleased to see Birmingham bounce back with win

Posted Thursday, November 29, 2018 by PA

Garry Monk was delighted to see his players bounce back from derby disappointment as Birmingham claimed a well-deserved 2-0 win against 10-man Millwall at The Den.

Blues fell to fierce rivals Aston Villa at the weekend, but an own goal from James Meredith and second-half strike from Michael Morrison were enough to seal a first win in three and lift them up to 10th in the Sky Bet Championship table.

Monk was proud to see his players pick themselves up and dust themselves off as his side moved within four points of the play-offs.

“In terms of what we needed to do, it was the perfect response,” he said. “We lost a huge game on Sunday to our rivals and we know how much that hurts for our fans and ourselves and everyone at the club.

“Losing derby games, you never quite get over it, but we wanted to show a response to our fans.

“Those two things are what we set out to do and we accomplished them. We are very pleased with that response.”

Ryan Leonard’s dismissal on the half-hour mark aided Birmingham somewhat, but Monk stressed that his side were in for a tough night regardless of their opposition’s numbers.

But with Blues certainly not struggling in front of goal this season, Monk’s praise was directed towards the other end of the pitch.

“In the last three games we have conceded goals that have been very uncharacteristic of us.

“We wanted to put that right and be solid defensively and get back to keeping clean sheets and not conceding poor goals, and we got that – that was the first response we needed, that was perfect.

“Even if they had nine or eight men they would test you here, we knew that and we had to stand up to it. The second half was a little bit scrappier, but I think we did what we had to do.

“Overall, considering where we are and who we were playing against, I’m really pleased with the three points.”

Defeat consigned Millwall to a fourth consecutive game without a win, and in drawing a blank their first home game without scoring since April.

But Neil Harris saw enough from his side’s performance to draw positives from a match that did not go their way.

“Ten vs 11 at Championship level and I thought we were the better side for long periods,” he said.

“I think the second goal was the killer really, it knocked the stuffing out of us and the belief out of us to get something.

“When it was 1-0 we were slightly on top of the game. I thought a chance would come our way.

“With the 10 men I thought we had a right go. Don’t get me wrong, a right go for this club is the bare minimum, but the players showed character, desire, showed some real quality at times.

“I will find a way of getting it right.”