Ryan Lowe says Millwall deserve ‘a lot of credit’ for change under Joe Edwards

Posted Sunday, January 28, 2024 by PA

Preston boss Ryan Lowe admitted Millwall deserve credit for transforming their style of play under Joe Edwards after his side’s 1-1 draw at The Den.

Zian Flemming put the Lions ahead in the fifth minute with a powerful header from the centre of the box, but Brad Potts rescued a point for North End after levelling in the 33rd minute.

Millwall controlled the second half and enjoyed 57 per cent possession, but they could not find the breakthrough and remain without a win since New Year’s Day.

Lowe said: “You have to give Millwall a lot of credit because they are trying to play a different way now.

“They have got some good footballers, and Joe is coaching the right way and the way that he wants.

“We had to withstand a lot of pressure from them, not just the team but from the fans as well, you have to keep them quiet.

“It was probably a fair result, I think both teams tried to win it.

“The first half was a little bit disappointing, the first 20 minutes or so, we gave ourselves a mountain to climb, but I am pleased with the reaction of the boys, to get a goal back.

“We probably didn’t want the first half to finish when it did because we were on the ascendency trying to get another one. We got into some good areas, we just could not finish it off, but it was not through lack of trying.

“We have been one of the best teams in the division for coming from a goal behind to win but you can’t keep doing that because it takes its toll on people.

“We are disappointed with the first goal but I am pleased with the reaction and resilience to keep going to the end and to try and win it.

“I don’t want people to think we are happy to take a point, we want to go and win games of football.”

The result leaves Preston in 12th in the Sky Bet Championship, while Millwall leapfrog Blackburn into 17th.

Edwards, who replaced Gary Rowett in November, is already looking ahead to next season after a mixed start to life in south London.

He said: “We’re just getting the team where we want it [ahead of next season].

“Obviously we are all competitors, we all want to win games and we look at the league table for sure, I look at the league table and would love us to keep pushing and finish as high as possible.

“As a group, a target of where we finish and what we achieve is not something we’re discussing much at the moment.

“The big thing is consistency, I think we felt we got to a point in recent weeks where there was a real noticeable change in the way we were playing and a lot of good performances.

“It is just about continuing to improve the quality of our performances and see where that takes us but the performance level is all we can aim for at the moment and we have got improvements to keep making.

“I felt the game played out a bit differently to Ryan, we started the game well and were on the front foot, we were the dominant team early on and got our reward.

“I still felt fairly comfortable up until their goal which came out of nowhere, it was an error from us and they punished us well, fair enough.

“The way we responded to the goal was poor, we completely lost our way from the goal until half-time.”