Millwall’s playoff aspirations slipped away from them at The Den, coming courtesy of a 3-0 thumping to Swansea, a victory that sends the Welsh side to third in the Championship and put an end to their torrid four game losing streak.
Jamal Lowe’s brace will surely put a smile on the faces of Swans supporters – especially when considering the side had failed to find the net in all four of their prior losses – and is a much needed confidence boost for the 26 year-old, who is now in double figures (11) for the season.
Frowns will be on the faces of Lions fans as they witnessed their side fail to capitalise on what was a tremendous opportunity to apply pressure to the playoff sides above, leaving the side in 9th place and 10 daunting points adrift of a top-six finish.
First Half
Similar to their last home outing, the first 10 minutes of play were dominant from the home side, taking the game to Swansea and pressing whenever the opportunity arose from a loose pass.
It would be Billy Mitchell who would have the first dangerous chance of the half in the fourth minute of play, with the Millwall midfielder latching onto a poor defensive clearance that rolled perfectly for the first time strike from the edge of the area, taking a wicked deflection on its way through that left the keeper a spectator as the ball rolled agonisingly past the post and out for a corner.
This opening spell from the South-East London side looked as though they were all aware this was a must win, appearing to be taking the game by the scruff of the neck, forcing the opposition into misplaced passes that were ready to be pounced on.
Steve Cooper, Swansea boss, took note of this early pressure and to his credit made a fantastic tactical adjustment to take the early sting out of the game. Cooper would urge his wide players to drop slightly deeper, offering a new dimension of passing outlets in midfield and allowing for the side to escape the early press.
From a neutral perspective, this adjustment really took the end-to-end excitement out of the remaining first half minutes, and when Gary Rowett’s side started to relieve some of their pressure the game became very possession based – quite a rare sight in Championship football.
That would remain the case right up until stoppage time, where Millwall’s backline faltered. Rowett’s side congested the left-hand side of the pitch to defend the oncoming attack, leaving Andre Ayew isolated in acres of space on the right wing. The Ghanaian international was allowed to cut back onto his left, lasering a curling shot into the top corner of the goal, assisted by Conor Hourihane – closing the half out at 1-0.
Second Half
Jake Cooper would come within inches of equalising for his side in the 46th minute as Scott Malone whipped in one of his signature pin-point crosses, connecting perfectly onto the head of Cooper. Alas, the ball floated off of the inside of the post, somehow staying out.
From this moment Swansea started to gain control of the game, taking advantage of the clearly tired legs of The Lions that just couldn’t seem to catch a break.
Rowett would make three changes in the 62nd minute in one last ditch attempt to turn the game on its head: Kenneth Zohore replaced Alex Pearce, Connor Mahoney replaced Maikel Kieftenbeld and Mahlon Romeo replaced Dan McNamara.
Frustration from the playoff hopefuls was clearly building as Swansea continued to tire out the side as they dominated possession, seemingly giving away needless fouls in silly areas just to get a breather.
Manager Rowett would urge his side to dig deep and find some sort of second wind, overloading attacking areas to try and force a much-needed opportunity to fall their way.
This tactical decision, although correct, would leave his backline open to counter attacks, and in the 76th minute this problem was highlighted.
A battle in midfield would leave the ball rolling loosely into the path of Wayne Routledge, who had all the time in the world to turn and pick his head up, playing a perfectly weighted ball directly into the stride of Jamal Lowe, dispatching his shot from inside the area powerfully into the bottom right corner.
With the wind in their sails the Welsh outfit would put the cherry on their third-place cake in the 85th minute of play, where Lowe would grab a phenomenal second goal. Ayew toyed with the exhausted Lions legs, fizzing a ball across the centre of the box where man of the match Lowe would meet it with a majestic first-time touch, magically dispatching his shot straight into the roof of the net.
Cooper’s Thoughts
Cooper told BBC Sport in his postgame interview, “we were a good version of ourselves today.” A short but sweet statement that really sums up just how convincing their victory ended up being. He continued, “first and foremost we needed the win, there was no doubt about that. But to do it in our way and our style away from home at a place like this, it just all adds up to a really positive day”.
Rowett’s Round Up
“I’m disappointed, I thought there were moments in the game we needed to make go our way, they went the other way”. A true statement from the boss as there really was some great chances to go ahead and to equalise, however the second half was an extremely one-sided affair.
Rowett was adamant that his side, over the full 90 minutes, didn’t deserve much from the game, “we have to defend better for all three goals, we deservedly lost the game”.
Next Up
Swansea now find themselves poised nicely in 3rd place, and they even have the luxurious advantage of having one game in hand over many of their chasers, quite remarkable for a team coming off of four consecutive losses.
Although it looks like Swansea’s automatic promotion chances are very slim, behind second place Watford by 10 points, they have an enormous fixture advantage as they play the two poorest performers in the league in Sheffield Wednesday (23rd) and Wycombe (24th) in the coming days.
Millwall’s next three games all come against top six sides, starting with Brentford (4th) on Saturday. This game, and the proceeding games against Bournemouth (6th) and Watford, should be considered as the most important games in what has been one of the more unpredictable seasons in recent memory.
End Of Season Prediction
It feels as though any points dropped over this three-game spell would symbolise the end to any playoff hopes that still linger in the minds of supporters, forcing their chasing Lions to an immediate halt. Each matchup should be taken one game at a time, and Rowett has some job on his hands to energise a side that already look depleted.
If the result against an out of form Swansea side had been different then it wouldn’t now sound delusional to suggest a late playoff miracle, but maybe this is what Millwall are and always have been this season; good, but not quite good enough.
Featured Image Credit: ‘Jamal Lowe’ by Federico Maranesi/MI News/NurPhoto
