"We Weren't At Our Best Tonight"

Manager Frank Lampard was frustrated following his side’s 1-0 home defeat against Millwall in the Sky Bet Championship on Wednesday night.

Jed Wallace scored the only goal of the game midway through the second half as the Lions recorded all three points at Pride Park Stadium.

Following the game, Lampard told RamsTV: “I’m disappointed to lose at home.

"We dominated in possession, but it doesn’t mean much. We made a mistake and gave them a goal with their only opportunity.

“We weren’t at our best and we needed a bit more going forward, a bit brighter passing and a bit quicker getting forward. We didn’t have that and we allowed them to defend. Once they got their goal it played into their hands.

“I thought we were a bit slow moving the ball, even though at times we opened up opportunities and then there was a misplaced pass or a wrong decision. We felt comfortable, there was no danger other than the long balls.

“It’s Millwall’s style to make it very difficult for you, take a lot of time on restarts and we allowed that to happen. Our tempo wasn’t good enough, on the other side we could have been quicker and brighter to keep playing.

“It was a game really that if you don’t play very well, you don’t lose and we lost it through a mistake which is the disappointing factor for me.”

“The game didn’t bring us any surprises at all. They were organised, physical, balls came into our box and I thought we dealt with it very well. The fact is, we didn’t create enough.

“We created a great chance with Jack where he slipped when he was about to hit it one-on-one with the keeper and if that went in we were pretty sure we would go on and win the game.”

A key talking point at the end of the first half was a penalty claim on striker Jack Marriott.

He fell in the area and the manager gave his view on the incident.

“It may have been a penalty, but I don’t think it was an absolute, solid penalty,” he said.

“The defender knew he was the wrong side and stuck his arm off but there wasn’t quite enough on it.”

The Rams still remain two points off the play-off positions and know that with 14 games remaining, there is still all to play for.

“It’s a time to be brave, this is the Championship,” Lampard commented. “You don’t have it your own way, a lot of teams will tell you the same.

“There are a lot of big teams below us but we have to stay positive, we have to be brave. We have two away games coming up, against Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, that are going to be very tough and we need a bit of character now.

“We know Forest are below us but our aims must always be who is above us. Tonight was a game we really wanted to win to push us back up into the top six but it want to be. We have to learn from every game when things like this happen.”