Gary Rowett enjoying Millwall’s ‘underdog tag’ after win at Middlesbrough

Posted Sunday, August 06, 2023 by PA

Gary Rowett is happy for Millwall to continue flying under the radar in their quest for a Championship play-off spot after starting the season with a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough.

Romain Esse’s 79th-minute strike secured victory at the Riverside for the Lions, who missed out on a top-six place on the final day of last term after their capitulation in a home defeat to Blackburn.

The Lions have strengthened with the addition of five senior players this summer, yet when most pundits were making predictions of who would be challenging for promotion this campaign, Millwall rarely featured on their lists.

Rowett accepts that his club might not have as high a profile as some of their Championship rivals, but is hoping they once again punch above their perceived weight over the course of the next nine months.

Rowett said: “It doesn’t bother us – we enjoy that underdog tag. We’ve had four seasons where we’ve been very, very close to the play-offs, and the last two seasons have gone to the last game.

“If people write us off, maybe that’s people who haven’t looked at our squad. I think we’ve strengthened well and I think we’ve got a good squad.

“If you look at this division, it’s always easy to pick the big-name teams or the teams that have come down from the Premier League, and I understand that. Nine times out of 10, those teams bounce back up because they have the quality and the resources.

“I’d expect a club like Middlesbrough to be ahead of us in people’s thoughts of what’s going to happen at the end of the season, but that doesn’t stop us from being what we are.

“People label Millwall a certain way, but if you look at today, yes we defended diligently, yes we transitioned well, but we actually played some really good football as well and we’ve got some talented players.”

That talent was apparent in Millwall’s winning goal, with two young substitutes combining to unlock the Middlesbrough defence.

Aidomo Emakhu skipped clear down the left to slide over a low cross and Esse produced a composed curled finish to claim his first senior goal.

The result was a setback for Middlesbrough, who continue to pursue a new left-back and centre-forward ahead of the transfer deadline.

Michael Carrick accepts his side looked short in the final third, although he did not want to attribute the final result to a lack of transfer activity in the last couple of weeks.

Carrick said: “It’s disappointing. We came here to try to win the game, but in the first game of the season, sometimes you don’t really know what to expect.

“I think we had good players on that pitch, who were capable of playing in a good team and playing well. They were capable of scoring goals and creating goals.

“Just because we lost the game, it doesn’t always mean what people might label it with. The players are definitely good enough. It doesn’t stop us from wanting to improve, but it’s an easy throwaway thing to say that because we didn’t win and we didn’t score, we need (new) players to get to where we want to be.

“I would like to add players, but I’m really happy with the players we’ve got in the squad.”