Gary Rowett has admitted that his post-game message to the Millwall players was difficult as they processed missing out on the Championship play-offs.
A 4-3 defeat to Blackburn Rovers at The Den saw the fifth and sixth places going to Coventry City and Sunderland on the final day.
Millwall had gone into the final weekend with their destiny in their own hands.
But despite leading 3-1 at the break at a packed out Den they were unable to secure the result as Ben Brereton Diaz sparked a fightback by Rovers, scoring twice.
“It’s never an easy scenario,” said Rowett, when asked by the South London Press about his dressing room debrief. “If you’re a player then you’re just devastated that you’ve not been able to take the next step. There are probably so many things going through your head about what we could have done differently or better.
“All I said to the players is that sometimes in these moments you have to feel a bit of this pain and think about how you can be better. You have to use that as a little bit of fire and motivation to be better.
“We’ve got our Player of the Season award on the pitch afterwards and even the players getting it are reluctant because they are thinking about the game. We give the fans, who have been brilliant today and throughout the season, a clap but at this moment there is a feeling of disappointment that is very hard to take out of your head.
“In a couple of days time, when a few of the lads are sat on a beach somewhere, they may start to reflect a bit more and detach emotionally. At the moment everyone in the club is just so disappointed that we got so close but couldn’t manage to get it over the line.”
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