Alex Neil’s delight at Millwall’s late, late show

Millwall boss Alex Neil believes his side’s second-half revival deserved the points after a late penalty secured the 1-0 victory against Stoke City.

Mihailo Ivanovic kept his composure against the Potters to clinch the win for the home side at the Den.

Neil’s opposite number, Mark Robins, was left angered by the decision to award a penalty in stoppage-time.

The Lions boss, however, felt his side were worthy winners.

Deserved

He said: “Whether it’s a penalty or not, we’ve all been victims of decisions across the season, but I thought it was no more than we deserved for our second-half performance.

“At this level, a lot of games are defined by key moments – whether you take that chance, whether it was a penalty, whether you can execute that pass, get that strike away.

“It was a really pleasing win [because] you’re playing against a team that’s fighting for their life at this stage of the season.

“They got a really good win during the week, they’ve got a really strong squad – half of that squad I put together, so there’s some really good players in there, but for us, that was an excellent win.

“Today I put the two forwards in, forcing us a little bit to go a bit more direct in the game.

“I didn’t think it worked particularly well first half, but I thought second half I thought we were excellent at it.”

The Stoke head coach Robins said: “There was nothing in the game apart from just trying to see out individual battles or physical duels, and the last one ended up with an inexplicable decision given against us.”