STUNG GREG ROARS BACK

MILLWALL

O’brien 12, Gregory 37

MIDDLESBROUGH 2

Braithwaite 87, Friend 90

2

LEE GREGORY admits Millwall were ‘absolutely gutted’ after throwing away a two-goal lead against Tony Pulis’s promotion hopefuls.

But the Lions No.9, who scored his side’s second, reckons the positives they can take from the vast majority of the game will set them up nicely for the season.

Millwall were cruising to a deserved victory after first-half goals from Aiden O’brien and Gregory (right).

Martin Braithwaite pulled one back with two minutes of normal time left, however, and George Friend scrambled home an equaliser in the seventh minute of stoppage time.

Gregory said: “We are absolutely gutted, that goes without saying.

“But once it’s settled in the next couple of days, we’ve competed with a side that is top-six minimum and held our own.

“We looked good for 88 minutes, we looked strong and it’s just minor little mistakes that have cost us.

“I’m sure the staff will be looking at that and assessing it but we just have to take the positives.

“We know our home record is going to be up there and once we get that first away win we’ll be comfortable from there.”

Millwall boss Neil Harris added: “Am I disappointed? Yes and no. For 88 minutes, I doubt we’ll play as well as that again this season.

“That was as good a Millwall performance as you’d wish to see, home or away. I’ll stop short of saying it was men against boys for 88 minutes. But what we did and how we dominated Boro… I told my players what a good performance that was against a team that will arguably be in the top two.

“We are an aggressive, physical team, we intimidate opponents and that’s what I want my side to be and what our fans demand.

“But we also have good players who can play, who can pass and move, and our quality is underestimated at times.”

Boro goal hero Friend (above, celebrating) said: “It’s a good start, in terms of it’s a hard place to come and get any points. “You look what they did last season, they were turning teams over.

“They did that to us and we couldn’t come back – that shows the strength we have this season. It was a bad first half but we came out fighting.

“We said, as soon as we get that first goal we knew we could build on it and I was pleased to get that goal at the end.”

Middlesbrough boss Tony Pulis paid tribute to central defender Ben Gibson after he completed his move to Sean Dyche’s Burnley.

Pulis said: “We want to thank Ben — he’s as good a professional as I’ve worked with. Dychey has got a real top player.”