The Will Scott column: &#8216;Every unpleasant aspect of having to play Millwall was cranked up to maximum&#8217; &#8211; how ra

IN his seventeen-minute-long pre-match press conference leading into Saturday's game, Alex Neil's message could be boiled down to a single idea: 'Enjoy the moment .'

Millwall were in a position unimaginable when Neil took over sixteen months ago: on the cusp of confirming a top-six finish and still well within touching distance of the top two, yet two disappointing results had led to nerves setting in among some sections of the fanbase, and perhaps the squad itself.

Neil called for them to play without tension, to enjoy the moment rather than let it overwhelm them, and they certainly responded to that message.

Millwall were all over Queens Park Rangers from the opening whistle, playing with the exact freedom that Neil wanted.

The crowd were immediately won over, especially when Derek Mazou-Sacko struck in the third minute. It was a positive feedback loop from then on - the players grew in confidence as the crowd grew louder, flew into more tackles, took on their man, and attempted that audacious pass. That in turn was well appreciated (I have never heard a tackle applauded louder than that at The Den), and repeat ad infinitum.

Neil spoke about the importance of starting quickly, and that felt like an acknowledgement of their recent poor first halves. It is harder to get away with that at home - if you start slowly, fans start grumbling, nerves set in, atmosphere gets edgy. The players then sense that and look more tense, nervy - everything Neil had wanted to avoid.

Instead, there was instant harmony, and the Hoops were immediately on the back foot.

When I previewed the match with LoftForWords ' Clive Whittingham, he spoke about how QPR had historically struggled to keep up with Millwall at The Den, that they needed to start strongly, smash into a few tackles, put themselves about, and generally just look up for the anticipated physical contest. If they did not do that, they would be in for a long afternoon.

It was remarkable how prescient both his and Neil's words were.

The away side looked shell-shocked by the early pressure, barely able to string a pass together and losing seemingly every duel. Their performance reminded me of how Xabi Alonso described playing Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund.

"I suffered in matches with Klopp's Dortmund...he kept pushing me all the time...the challenge of defeating Dortmund was huge. I wasn't happy to play against them alone, because it was so intense that it practically broke you down."

QPR really embodied that sense of suffering in the first half.

Buoyed by eight days' rest, every unpleasant aspect of having to play Millwall was cranked up to maximum.

They were so aggressive out of possession, and looked to run all over them the minute they won the ball back.

The key players of the season showed up - Tristan Crama looked like a man among boys and had two chances to score, Femi Azeez had sent in five crosses by the 30th-minute mark, Camiel Neghli bagged a goal after a bit of skill, the defence was rock solid, Josh Coburn put himself about.

Casper De Norre admitted after the game that they spent a lot of energy in those opening 20 to 30 minutes. It was a gamble that worked.

QPR just lacked the resilience and confidence to take them on at their own game. Once the tides had receded, they had nothing left, even after Julian Stephan's four half-time changes.

"When you're losing the game 2-0, I'm sure there are things that you'll want to look at, experiment with, give us a different challenge to compete with," Neil said. "I think that Josh Coburn led the line brilliantly, and he brought Steve Cook on for a bit of physical presence.

"More importantly, two central midfield players came on, and they were both six-foot-plus as well. So that physical battle was a little bit more of a challenge in the second half."

The match was more even from that point on, but the damage had been done. Millwall were rarely troubled and could just play their own game. All the impetus was on QPR.

It was as if the stakes were flipped for the two sides - Millwall did not look like a team under pressure in the slightest.

Neil's wish had been granted.

"I did the press the other day, and I talked about enjoying the moment," Neil said. "I'm going to go a little bit philosophical on you - I just think too many people in society in general, you worry about things that happened, or you worry about what might happen. Just enjoy what you're doing.

"We should enjoy what we're doing. I'm saying this to the fans as well as the players. Enjoy what you're doing. You might never get to this stage again. You don't know. So what you do is embrace it, really enjoy it, don't let it pass you by, make sure you take part in it, and you remember every bit of it."

Football has a funny way of ebbing and flowing. A week-and-a-half ago, it looked nearly impossible to catch Ipswich. Two poor results plus a Lions win later, automatic promotion is back on the menu (it is a testament to how well Millwall have done that they are one point off a first play-off appearance in 20 years, and it only gets an aside).

The positive feeling generated by a performance like that at home is not to be underestimated. All the worries after the stalemate at The Hawthorns have since gone; now Ipswich are feeling the pressure, while Millwall go from strength to strength.

That pressure will be ramped up by the two sides' fixture list. Sure, no game at this level is easy, but you would much rather play a drifting Stoke City and a woeful Leicester City team (Gary Rowett looks like he wants to murder half his squad) than a surging West Bromwich Albion or fifteen-games-unbeaten Southampton.