Gary Rowett hails ‘unlucky’ Benik Afobe after two-goal show for Millwall

Posted Thursday, March 17, 2022 by PA

Millwall manager Gary Rowett felt Benik Afobe was unlucky not to come away with a hat-trick after scoring both goals in an impressive 2-0 win over Huddersfield.

The 29-year-old striker, who is on loan from Stoke, had not scored in his previous six games but ended that barren run in style to move the Lions within two points of the Championship play-off places.

Afobe went on to hit the woodwork twice at The Den, which became the scene of promotion-chasing Huddersfield’s first defeat in 18 league games.

Rowett said: “He was really unlucky. If you look back at some of the moments, we’ve hit the bar, it was a penalty when the lad blocks it on the line when his had his up in the air – think it was (Lewis) O’Brien.

“The keeper has made two or three fabulous saves and Benik has missed another really good chance that is probably far better than his second goal.

“But that’s what you’d rather talk about: creating lots of opportunities rather than talking about missing them.

“He took his two, he’ll be disappointed he didn’t have a hat-trick, but I think the bigger picture is a really good performance both on and off the ball today. It was really disciplined.

“In terms of possession, they will have had more possession but in terms of chances, I thought we completely dominated the game.”

Afobe had already been denied by a good save by Lee Nicholls when he put Millwall ahead with a thumping finish after Mason Bennett’s blocked shot fell in his direction.

The ball broke kindly for him again for his second goal after 57 minutes but it was still a brilliant strike into the bottom corner that sealed an eighth game without defeat for the Lions.

Huddersfield boss Carlos Corberan, who saw his side’s automatic promotion hopes take a hit, said: “I thought today that Millwall were better than us and that’s why we lost the game.

“To analyse the first goal, I need to talk about our attack because for me today, the feeling of the first 15 minutes was very positive.

“But after these positive minutes, we started to lose the ball in very high-risk spaces on the pitch.

“When you have the losing of the ball in the middle of the pitch, the normal thing is you suffer in one transition and their first goal was exactly this.

“After you lose the ball in the last third of the pitch, you are going to suffer counter-attacks.

“I think today, in the offensive half, we didn’t find the stability with the ball or the accuracy with the pass and that didn’t allow us to create chances.”