Gary Rowett pleased to see Millwall get past ‘frustrating’ Swansea

Posted Wednesday, March 15, 2023 by PA

Gary Rowett admitted he finds Swansea’s style of play frustrating after leading play-off chasing Millwall to a 2-1 win against the Welsh side.

Neither team found the back of the net in a first half at The Den that lacked cutting edge.

However, the game sprung into life after the break as Charlie Cresswell and Andreas Voglsammer gave the hosts a two-goal lead before Ryan Manning quickly pulled a goal back for Swansea.

The win sees Millwall climb to fifth in the Sky Bet Championship, five points clear of seventh place and two points ahead of Blackburn in sixth.

And Rowett accepted that he had to change things up in order to stop the visitors.

He said: “Every time I’ve played Swansea in the last three or four years it’s been exactly the same type of game.

“It’s been frustrating, it’s been hard to play against and low-key in terms of tackles and that little bit of physicality that we like. So, we found that tough in the first half.

“I made a change at half-time and decided I’d rather go up against them a little bit and take a bit of a gamble and lose the game that way if that was what we had to do.

“But we needed to get a little bit of life into the game and inject a bit of atmosphere into it.

“We scored two different types of goals. The first one, Cressy (Charlie Cresswell), with a lot of bodies, does really well to prod it home.

“And the second goal, it’s great play by Zian (Flemming) to break free down the left-hand side and he plays a lovely little pass inside to George Honeyman, and he’s aware enough to find Vogy (Andreas Voglsammer).”

In contrast, Swansea are in freefall, without a win in six games and sitting in 17th on 43 points.

However, Russell Martin felt his side were unlucky to be on the losing side in south London.

He said: “I thought we played brilliantly tonight. I think we dominated the game pretty much in every facet; chances, more of the ball and limited them to very little really. (We were) undone by a long throw and a mistake, unfortunately.

“So, I’m really frustrated, really hurt but really proud of the way the players played.

“It’s felt like the last couple of games have been slowly coming back to life and being us in terms of how we want the game to look and the courage they are being asked to show. Confidence has been building up, slowly but surely.

“It’s not an easy place to come tonight at all. They have one of the best home forms in the league and I think they’re fifth in the league now.

“So, I’m really pleased with the performance and I’m really disappointed with the result because I don’t think it’s what we deserved.”