Millwall boss Gary Rowett hails hat-trick hero Tom Bradshaw

Posted Sunday, February 19, 2023 by PA

Millwall manager Gary Rowett wishes striker Tom Bradshaw could play in front of the TV cameras every week after his second hat-trick of the season earned a dramatic 3-2 win over Sheffield United.

The 30-year-old’s previous treble also came when Sky Sports broadcasted from The Den as he put Watford to the sword in October and his latest heroics gave the Lions’ play-off hopes a timely boost.

He also haunted one of his former bosses as he dealt a second blow in a week to the promotion hopes of the Blades, who are managed by the man who signed him for Barnsley in 2016, Paul Heckingbottom.

After looking like they were surging towards a return to the Premier League not long ago, Heckingbottom’s side will be increasingly worried about opening the door to third-placed Middlesbrough.

Rowett was more concerned with his matchwinner, however, saying: “I’ve just said downstairs that I think on Amazon you can buy fake cameras.

“I’m going to put them around the ground for every game just to see if I can convince him that Sky are at every single home game because he certainly likes playing in front of the cameras.

“The lads are giving him a bit of stick in there because apparently he blew his missus a kiss live on camera and they’re not too happy about that, but you’ve got to do what you’ve go to do and make hay while the sun shines if you’ve scored a hat-trick.”

It was also a day Rowett’s parents will not forget, with the Millwall boss adding: “They were at the game for the first time, and they’ll be going ‘oh wow, is it like this every time?’

“I would imagine for anyone that’s a neutral, they probably look at that as a fabulous game to watch.”

It certainly did not take long to click into gear, with Bradshaw already being denied by Blades keeper Wes Foderingham by the time he rifled an effort past him to open the scoring in the sixth minute.

Sheffield United levelled six minutes before half-time when Tommy Doyle’s free-kick found its way past George Long despite him getting a hand to it, but Bradshaw restored Millwall’s lead by glancing in Andreas Voglsammer’s cross after 62 minutes.

The visitors squared matters again with eight minutes left when James McAtee showed some great footwork from Jayden Bogle’s cut-back before finishing into the roof of the net.

However, the Lions would not be denied and they found a winner in the 88th minute when Bradshaw completed his hat-trick into an empty net from Voglsammer’s terrific low ball across.

Blades boss Heckingbottom said: “You certainly get what you deserve and we started like the team who played Wednesday night, who travelled and stood in our beds for an early kick-off.

“But the biggest disappointment, the most frustrating thing, is it’s difficult to stop that and turn it round, and we did that.

“We did it at half-time, we did it in the second half, so we were the team, I felt, at 1-1 we quietened the crowd, they were turning when we were on top, so it’s disappointing to give the goals away we did.

“We’ve given Millwall the game there. We’d shown everything we say we’re about – the character, the determination, the drive – but we maybe lost that little bit of composure as well.”