It was not the start that Alex Neil was hoping for as his Millwall side were beaten 1-0 by Oxford United on New Year’s Day, thanks to a second-half header from Ruben Rodrigues.
It was Oxford’s third straight win since former Lions manager Gary Rowett replaced Des Buckingham.
Mihalio Ivanovic had Millwall’s best chance of the contest in the first half. Ryan Leonard’s cross was headed back across goal by Duncan Watmore and fell to the Serbian, whose first-time volley was well saved by Jamie Cumming.
Joe Bryan’s free-kick forced another save from Cumming in the second half but the Lions really struggled to create anything after Oxford took the lead with Cumming very rarely threatened.
Oxford’s winner came in the 57th minute, Rodrigues heading in Przemyslaw Placheta’s cross.
Scoring goals has been a real problem for the Lions, with just two goals scored in their last seven games and only 22 in 24 games this season.
New Millwall head coach Neil said: Frustrating. For the first 30 minutes we were really good.
“We created some good chances. Mihailo has a good chance – the keeper saves it. Duncan has one where he put it past the far post. Duncan then has the best chance of the game, where it falls to him and he hits it and the defender gets a block.
“We were the better side, the dominant side, we got good crosses into the box and we got good volume in terms of attacks. Then, after 30 minutes I felt the game became a bit stretched for us, they carried a bit of a threat but nothing significant.
“On a transition they looked dangerous, they had a shot, Japhet (Tanganga) blocks it and it goes out for a corner. The corner comes in, they have a shot – we get a good block in. There was a shot from distance, the goalie made it look better than what it was – that was it until the goal.”
Millwall are not known as a side that tends to have plenty of possession in games, they average the lowest in the league with just more than 40 per cent per game.
Neil said: “I learned a lot today, in the fact that we have not been the type of team that dominates the ball. You can see and hear that. When we are doing a few passes around the back you can hear a bit of agitation in the crowd.
“For all the volume and the opportunities that we had in wide areas, we had double the amount of final third entries, we had double the amount of touches in the box but we just didn’t have that killer instinct.”
Referee Reubyn Ricardo incurred the wrath of the home supporters in both halves after he failed to award Millwall a penalty.
Romain Esse looked to have been clipped in the first half and George Saville saw his appeals waved away in the second half.
Neil said: “I felt Sav got his body in front and the boy just barged him from behind.
“I’d need to look at the Romain one again. I have not really seen it back. I thought at the time Romain skipped past him and it looked as if he brought him down for me.”
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