MacDONALD: WE FACE HARD TASK
ASTON Villa caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald was disappointed to leave Millwall empty-handed in the week that the club parted company with Steve Bruce.
The Villains took an early lead through Tammy Abraham, only for the Lions to roar back through Shane Ferguson and Tom Elliott.
MacDonald said: “First-half we started reasonably well and having scored the goal we thought we were in control.
“But we knew we were always going to be under pressure from set-pieces at Millwall.
“They got themselves back into the game and scored a good goal to equalise. And we never really started in the second half.”
MacDonald warned that the new manager will have plenty of work on his hands to turn things around at Villa Park.
He added: “All the players, individually, need to tidy themselves up. The team as a group need to tidy themselves up. I’m sure it will get tidied up very quickly. If it does, this team will go up the table quickly.”
The visitors, with just one win in the last 10, enjoyed a dream start to life after Bruce when they took the lead with their very first opportunity on seven minutes.
After Jack Grealish had been fouled, Conor Hourihane flighted in a perfect free-kick for Abraham to deftly volley home.
MacDonald’s side then began to dominate the game, with Grealish controlling the tempo.
But they created few clear-cut chances, and Millwall gradually grew into the contest, with Jed Wallace forcing Orjan Nyland into a fine near-post save and Jake Cooper heading over the bar when well placed.
By the time the hosts equalised after 25 minutes it was fully deserved. Shaun Williams delivered a free-kick, Cooper won the header and the ball dropped to Ferguson, who rifled in his first goal of the season via a deflection.
Millwall now took control. Williams’ thunderous shot from range was only just over the bar, while Elliott was wasteful when presented with a three on two for the hosts.
The striker more than atoned just three minutes after the break, however. Villa only half-cleared a corner and when the ball was returned into the six-yard box, it dropped to Elliot, who hammered home through Nyland’s legs.
Villa were briefly stung into action, James Bree heading Ahmed Elmohamady’s cross narrowly wide shortly before the hour mark, but they barely worked Ben Amos in the second half.
Millwall continued to have the better chances – most notably when Williams crashed a header off the underside of the bar.
Neil Harris was pleased to see Millwall’s back-to-basics approach pay off for a first win since August.
He said: “It’s a nice feeling. I’m delighted for my players, they worked tirelessly.
“Sometimes you have to go back to basics, remind players what they’re good at.
“We’ve been back to basics on the training pitch, and they got their rewards today.”