Blackburn’s desire pleases boss Valerien Ismael after win over Millwall

Valerien Ismael pointed to Blackburn’s desire as the reason they ended a difficult 2025 with a much-needed 2-0 victory over play-off hopefuls Millwall.

Blackburn’s home form had previously yielded one win in 10 but they raced out of the traps to put an out-of-sorts Millwall away with two goals in the opening half as Andri Gudjohnsen crashed in his fourth in his last seven outings in the third minute.

Yuki Ohashi doubled the lead just before the break, and he will not score an easier one this term, taking advantage of a chronic communication breakdown in the Millwall defence.

There were no second-half dramas as Blackburn comfortably held on, registering their first home clean sheet since February and easing their relegation worries.

And boss Ismael praised that fast start and the way his team saw out the game.

He said: “It was important for us to get three points. We know 2025 was a tough year at home but we always kept going. It was our aim to come into the game with a big desire to play more forward, to be on the front foot, which we did in the first half and finally we had a little bit of luck as well on the second goal.

“It’s always the same when you put the pressure on the back four, at some point, you force the mistake.

“In the second half, you saw straightaway Millwall changed the shape to be more stable, and it was all about for us, we spoke about to stay stable, not to be nice. Because now it’s about getting the rewards.

“I think the boys did it perfectly in the second half. We were really solid, I didn’t get the feeling Millwall would come back into the game, we defended set pieces well, and we gave some debuts to the Academy boys so I think it’s a great day for Rovers.”

Millwall remain in the play-off zone despite losing back-to-back games.

Alex Neil branded his side’s first-half performance as “unacceptable” and said they were “miles off” the standards expected.

He said: “First half I thought we were miles off what we were capable of doing. I thought we weren’t sharp enough. In possession and out of possession, we made it so easy for Blackburn.

“The first goal I thought was dreadful. We jump out from full back and let him slip the ball down the side of us. We’ve spoken about that all week. Then the cutback, to then score off the second phase – the shot comes back and they score the next one.

“The second goal basically sums our first-half performance. When you split it into thirds you go, top third they got the better of our forwards, middle third they picked up more second balls than us in the first half, and I think in their top third, they bumped our centre backs and made it hard for us, and were just the brighter side across the pitch

“If I could have made more subs at half-time I would have. That’s how frustrated I was with the first half, especially if you look at how far our fans have travelled before Christmas and we serve up that first half. Unacceptable.

“I thought at least second half we competed but we lacked quality.”