LIONS ARE TWO GOOD
Wood brought down to earth
AS the son of a prison governor, Gary Rowett is familiar with all kinds of lockdown.
But as Millwall released the shackles a notch, with only their second win in 14 games, there was a clear rel ief in the Lions manager’s demeanour.
Goals in each half from Kenneth Zohore and Shaun Hutchinson were the least Rowett’s side deserved against Boreham Wood at Meadow Park.
With the Elstree studios, where Strictly Come Dancing contestants go through their paces, barely 200 yards up the road, there was ample scope for Millwall to trip up against National League minnows.
Rowett need not have worried, although he admitted: “It was a difficult game with our current form.
“It’s always a difficult place to come, a nonleague ground – it’s a brilliant set-up, you can see the organisation – but we did a professional job.
“You’ve got to match the mentality, and hope that your quality shines through. That’s how the game panned out.
“Once the first goal went in – and it was an excellent goal – we settled down.
“But when it remains at 1-0, it still gives them an opportunity.
“If I am going to be critical, we should have taken the game away from Boreham Wood earlier, and I’m not going to lie – it was nice to take some positives to build on.
“One win is not going to make our league games any easier. While our recent run is possibly not quite a ref lection of the last 12 games or so, we are where we are in the table and we will need to build on this performance.”
In a tetchy, feisty opening, Jake Cooper was booked in the opening 30 seconds and was probably lucky to escape a second yellow card after the break.
But those incidents apart, Millwall had only one real scare, when bulky
Wood striker Matt Rhead – a quarter-finalist with non-league Lincoln four years ago – wasted the best chance of the match, firing over from 12 yards.
The Lions had gone in front after half an hour, Zohore providing an assured finish to a slick move orchestrated by Scott Malone and the impressive Troy Parrott.
And Boreham Wood’s resistance waned after Hutchinson made it 2-0 with a firm header 15 minutes from time.
Boreham Wood keeper Nathan Ashmore made a string of fine saves to keep the home side in touch, but their manager Luke Garrard conceded: “We were fortunate to be only 1- 0 down at the break. Millwall moved the ball superbly – yes, they made eight changes, but those players would walk into any team in our league and we didn’t play to our maximum, which we had to if we wanted to get through.”