ALEX Neil thought Millwall put in a brilliant “all-round” performance to beat Queens Park Rangers 2-0 and put themselves on the verge of securing the play-offs.
The Lions flew out of the blocks at The Den, overwhelming the visitors and taking the lead within three minutes when Derek Mazou-Sacko thumped the ball into the back of the net from the edge of the box.
The French midfielder then set up the second, thirteen minutes later, poking the ball forward to Camiel Neghli, who dummied past a defender and then curled the ball into the back of the net.
The Lions could have had more, with Josh Coburn, Tristan Crama and Zak Sturge all having chances to add a third against the disjointed Rangers.
QPR boss Julian Stephan made four changes during the interval to try to wrest back control of the game, and they did have more of a foothold in the second half, but his side were only able to register three shots, one of which was on target.
Millwall, on the other hand, spurned another glorious chance when Josh Coburn connected with Tristan Crama’s cross, and were deserved winners on the day.
“I thought we needed to start fast,” Neil said. “We needed to get the fans on side. We needed to be aggressive. We needed to try and pin them in, sustain pressure, chances, opportunities, crosses, whether it be a corner, a wide free kick. We just needed to get ourselves on top of them, and we’ve done that so often at home this season.
“You can see with other games, it’s not easy to win at this stage of the season. I even watched Coventry last night. It’s not easy to get across the line.
“But today, I thought we certainly got that monkey off our back a little bit. We attacked it. We were aggressive. The disappointing thing for me at half-time was that we weren’t more than two goals in the lead because I thought we deserved that.
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“We then had the best chance of the second half, with Josh Coburn’s one across the face, the keeper made a brilliant save.
“We managed the game really, really well. I can’t really remember any chance of note where you think QPR should score. From that perspective, I thought it was an all-round performance.
“We took the fans on the journey early doors by getting ourselves in the lead and being aggressive, and I thought they were brilliant. They carried us right through to the end, and I thought there were some terrific performances.”
Neil was asked what pleased him the most about how his side saw out the game.
“It’s getting a fine balance between making it not a transitional game, where it’s just literally end-to-end and who scores the next goal is going to determine what the next bit looks like, and it’s also not just sitting back and absorbing pressure,” Neil said. “There is a balance to be found where you need to carry a threat, but you don’t want to go all out and make the game become a basketball match.
“Because certainly when we’re winning, and what’s riding on it, one goal changes the face of the game, doesn’t it? Because if they score, we start to get a bit nervy, the fans start to get a bit nervy, we start to sink. If we get the next goal, then obviously it can be a lot better. But certainly when you’re winning 2-0 and you’ve got what’s riding on the game for us, I thought we managed it brilliantly.”
