ALEX Neil described Millwall’s win over top-two rivals Middlesbrough as a “big boys game” and said many of his squad had never experienced a game of that magnitude.
The Lions took on second-placed Boro at a sold-out Riverside Stadium on Good Friday, with the opportunity to chance into second with a win.
The Boro fans were in fine voice to start the game, and their side responded in kind, dominating the first half. They peppered Anthony Patterson’s goal with eighteen shots, and had the opener when Dael Fry crashed in Alan Browne’s cross at the back post.
Neil adjusted his side’s set-up, and they were much improved after the restart, equalising thirteen minutes into the second half when Josh Coburn, on his return to his boyhood club, volleyed in from a corner.
The match was a far more even contest from then on, but Coburn would have the decisive say with five minutes to go, firing into the far corner after Adilson Malanda’s loose pass.
Neil said his side coped far better with the occasion in the second half.
“We’ve got a lot of younger players, and even some of the older players, who would never have played in a game of this magnitude with what’s riding on it,” Neil said. “The atmosphere was electric at the start of the game, and all credit to Middlesbrough for creating that sort of atmosphere. Our fans were in brilliant voice in the far corner.
“This was a big boys game, in terms of you need to have some minerals to go out there and play in that and keep the ball under pressure and all that sort of stuff. We probably lacked that a little bit in the first half, but we certainly showed it in the second half.”
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