SLACKERS GET STEVIE UPTIGHT..
Jake calls for strong minds after late collapse at Bees
REF: Stuart Attwell ATT: 10,886
Dasilva Bradshaw Mbeumo Watkins Wallace
JAKE COOPER was left fuming by Millwall’s late London derby collapse.
The Lions were coasting after 84 minutes – only for Brentford to score three late goals to complete a stunning comeback.
But Millwall defender Cooper pulled no punches in a surrender that did little to help caretaker Adam Barrett’s bid to replace Neil Harris as the full-time boss.
“There are no excuses for that last six minutes,” said Cooper. “We have to make sure that never happens again. They aren’t the standards we set ourselves. For 84 minutes we looked in control and we dominated at times.
“Maybe a bit of fatigue set in, but we have to take responsibility. We made some little errors and switched off and you can’t afford for that to happen.
“We have to learn from the last six minutes and pick ourselves up. We have to move on and go again on Tuesday against Cardiff.
“It’s good that it’s a quick turnaround. We can focus straight away on Cardiff and that will be our aim – to bounce back from Saturday and show people that the last six minutes aren’t what we’re about.”
The defeat means Millwall have now gone 11 games without a win on the road – a run that stretches back to March. Cooper added: “It’s something we’re working on to change. Maybe it’s a bit of a mind block, but we need to get over it.”
After Ollie Watkins had missed a first-half penalty for the Bees, Millwall took control when Tom Bradshaw tapped them in front seconds before half-time. And Jed Wallace’s penalty shortly after the restart increased the Lions’ advantage.
But Brentford pulled a goal back through Josh Dasilva on 84 minutes and fellow sub Bryan Mbeumo equalised four minutes later, before Watkins won it for the Bees in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
It was an eventful afternoon for Watkins.
The striker saw his spot-kick saved by Bartosz Bialkowski, gave one away and then scored the last-gasp winner to take his tally for the season to eight.
“I’ve got mixed emotions, but it all came good in the end,” said Watkins.
“With time running out and 2-0 down it was looking unlikely that we were going to get anything. You must keep believing, although that kind of comeback is something you dream of.
“But we stuck to our gameplan and it paid off.”
BRENTFORD: MILLWALL: MOTM BRYAN MBEUMO (BRENTFORD) STEVEN GERRARD blasted his Rangers players after they failed to knock Celtic off top spot.
Victory would have taken them ahead of the champions, who thrashed Ross County 6-0 on Saturday.
But they were held 1-1 at Hearts, with Ryotaro Meshino putting the hosts ahead after six minutes and Alfredo Morelos equalising before the break.
Gerrard said: “We started really badly – wrong mentality, wrong attitude.
“When you come to a place like Tynecastle, it’s so important you compete and you earn the right – and we didn’t do that.
“If we had done that in the opening 20 minutes, we win this game 1-0. I’m really disappointed and frustrated at how we started.”
Hearts boss Craig Levein was encouraged and he said: “The test for us now is to find that level of performance every week.”