Gary Rowett pleased to see Millwall put in ‘complete performance’ in Blues win

Millwall boss Gary Rowett hailed a “complete performance” after his side ended a four-match winless streak in style by beating Birmingham 3-1.

Murray Wallace and Tom Bradshaw put the hosts two goals to the good before the break and though Troy Deeney halved the deficit, George Evans’ strike settled the outcome 17 minutes from time.

It is the first time since late October the Lions have netted more than once in a game and Rowett was delighted to see his side rediscover their scoring touch.

“It was a complete performance over the 90 minutes,” he said.

“We’ve started really well in a lot of games this season, but what we’ve not managed to do sometimes is score that first goal and we’ve not managed to score two goals in many games.

“We’ve been a little bit critical of the fact we don’t think we’ve scored enough this season, or been dangerous enough.

“We were excellent in the first half and excellent value for our lead.

“We’ve had 10 shots on target today, which is unheard of for us. It would have been almost criminal if we hadn’t scored more than two goals today. I’m a little bit disappointed we didn’t score more than three.”

The hosts’ first two goals came from corners, with Wallace making no mistake from six yards and Bradshaw’s bullet header doubling the lead.

“Sometimes scoring in that way just takes games away from teams and makes it very difficult,” Rowett added.

“Against a team like Birmingham, that’s a difficult way to beat them, because they’re pretty strong on set-pieces and a really physical side.”

Blues put on a stronger show in the second half and gave themselves hope when captain Deeney blasted home.

But Evans’ fine finish put the game beyond the visitors and Birmingham boss Lee Bowyer felt his side were ‘too soft’ at The Den.

“It’s a difficult place to come and a very hostile crowd,” he said.

“I warned the players yesterday that if you come here, don’t fight and compete, then you’re going to lose the game. If you don’t stick together as a group, you’ll lose the game.

“We were too soft in the first half. We allowed them to win every second ball, the basics of the game, set-pieces, marking, it’s not good enough. It’s not like us, we’re normally better than that.

“It was a great goal from Troy [Deeney]. I think that’s the best he’s played since he’s been at the club. He caused them problems all day.

“We had to be braver once we scored but we weren’t. For some reason, we stopped doing the things that were hurting them in the first 15 minutes of the second half.”