Wayne Rooney conceded ‘it wasn’t to be’ for his Derby County side as they tasted a rare defeat on home turf on Wednesday night.
Millwall were 2-1 winners at Pride Park Stadium in their latest Sky Bet Championship outing as they sought to build on the dramatic and late 1-0 success against Peterborough United on Saturday.
However, Derby fell behind with just over a minute on the clock as Jed Wallace’s free kick into the box from the left-hand side evaded everyone in the box and drifted into the far corner beyond the reach of Ryan Allsop.
Rooney’s side responded well to the setback and advance into some promising attacking areas, but Millwall kept them at bay and doubled their lead through Tyler Burey as he lashed the ball past Allsop from around ten yards out.
Derby pushed for a way back into the game in the second half - with Colin Kazim-Richards and Ravel Morrison introduced as half-time substitutes - and enjoyed a spell of pressure leading up to the hour mark, but they remained unable to break the visitors’ backline down for long spells.
Kazim-Richards’ low cross into the box with two minutes remaining helped get the Rams back into the game, with Lions defender Jake Cooper slicing the ball into his own net as he attempted to clear the danger.
That sparked a late rally from Derby, but it was too little too late as they tasted defeat on home turf for only the third time this term in the Championship.
Rooney told RamsTV after the final whistle: “We’re disappointed to lose and we conceded two sloppy goals, but I felt that was pretty much all they had.
“They didn’t cause us many more problems but when you score two goals early on away from home, you can sit in and make it difficult.
“We went for it at half time, we were positive with the changes we made and I think you’ve got to give Millwall credit as they defended their box really well; it wasn’t to be for us tonight.”
He added: “This group of players are all together, whether they start the game or are on the bench.
“We have to get over this defeat quickly and as a collective. We need to be ready to go again.”
Derby remain eight points adrift of safety with 13 matches remaining and Rooney has stressed that there’s no need to be despondent.
The side have battled against adversity across the campaign, following two separate points deductions totalling up to 21 points, and the Rams’ boss believes his side can narrow the gap to those above them once again.
“We have been through a lot this season,” he said. “We know it’s going to be tough and we will lose more games between now and the end of the season, but it’s about the matches we win and how many we can win.
“We need to stay positive and we will keep fighting, doing everything we can to stay in the division and whilst there is a chance we will keep going.”
Following back-to-back home matches, Derby are back on the road in their next Championship fixture on Saturday when they head south to face Luton Town at Kenilworth Road (3pm kick-off).