Cooper the scourge of Blades again
GARY Rowett is delighted that his Millwall players are continuing to triumph against adversity, as they kept their fine run of form going with a narow victory over Sheffield United.
An early muscle strain for forward Mason Bennett meant the Lions had to struggle on without eight injured players against their play-off-chasing opponents.
That they claimed their fourth win in a row was down to Jake Cooper continuing his remarkable record of scoring scored five goals in his past seven games against the visitors, with his second-half header being the centre-back’s fifth goal in his past seven appearances against them.
Cooper’s latest strike against the Blades was the first time they had conceded in around nine hours, while it also lifted Millwall, walking wounded and all, to within five points of the top six.
Rowett, who is enjoying his best run as Lions boss, said: “To win four on the spin is a brilliant achievement, especially in the scenario that we’re in, with players going down injured in every game.
“It’s quite phenomenal, really, to play a team like Sheffield United, after Wednesday night’s exertions [at Derby].
“They had the luxury of making three strong changes and we’re in a position, at the moment, where we’ve almost got to keep grinding it out.
“We started with a nice spark about us in the second half, scored the goal, a brilliant goal: good run from Danny McNamara, great little ball in by Jed Wallace and Coops certainly enjoys playing against Sheffield United.”
The first half was a tough watch, with Bennett’s injury the biggest incident, but thankfully something approaching a football match broke out after half-time.
Jack Robinson almost got lucky five minutes after the restart when his mishit cross needed helping over the crossbar by Bartosz Bialkowski.
His opposite number Wes Foderingham then had a nervy moment when he fumbled Shaun Hutchinson’s effort, but Scott Malone couldn’t convert the rebound.
The winning moment eventually came in the 61st minute when Jed Wallace’s pinpoint free-kick from the right was headed in at the back post by the unmarked Cooper.
The Blades couldn’t create a clear opportunity in the time that remained and they have now been replaced by Luton in the place-off places, following what was only their second defeat in 16 league games.
Their manager Paul Heckingbottom said: “It was an attritional game between two teams who played Wednesday night and I thought in the first half that’s what it looked like.
“I don’t think there was anything in it. If you look at statistics and passes, and all them things that don’t really matter, we probably shaded it.
“We’d have taken a 0-0 the way we played and come away with a point from here, with the form that Millwall are in. But, performancewise, we didn’t think we were at our best and that’s the disappointing thing.”