Alex Neil impressed with Millwall desire in victory at Watford

Millwall boss Alex Neil hailed the Lions’ desire as they earned a thoroughly-deserved 2-0 Championship victory over Watford at Vicarage Road.

Goals from former Watford youth product Femi Azeez and Josh Coburn were enough as Millwall demonstrated teamwork and a collective will that the Hornets could not match.

Azeez stroked home the first after 69 minutes following an Alfie Doughty cross, before Josh Coburn latched on to a Camiel Neghli pass to seal their win.

Neil said: “At this stage of the season, winning is obviously the most important thing, but how you win does matter.

“In the first half we were very dominant and they couldn’t get out of their half much.

“We talk a lot about doing the hard yards and sometimes at this level you can beat teams through persistence and put the effort in that maybe other teams won’t.

“So I was delighted with the lads. I thought we showed real hunger, real desire and I thought that we deservedly won the game.”

Neil was pleased to see the return of Casper de Norre in central midfield, giving him 45 minutes o return from injury.

Neil added: “We know that we’ve been lacking natural central midfield players for a long time now so to do what we’ve done is remarkable.

“In the first half you could see the tenaciousness, the composure, the physicality that Casper brings to the team. We miss him when he’s not there.

“We have had a lack of consistency in terms of the availability of players. Now that players are coming back, we’re hoping that we can have a consistency of style, line-up and performance. That will give us a good chance in games.

“But composure is also key in the nitty-gritty part of the season. We’ve won the game today, great, but now the next one is the most important.”

While Millwall maintained their play-off push, Watford’s stalled as their four-game winning run in the league came to a shuddering halt.

Manager Javi Gracia said: “It’s obvious this wasn’t our best game. We knew that Millwall are really strong, but we didn’t do our job.

“We tried to find a way to progress and play in our style, but we didn’t do it.

“When we conceded the first goal after a mistake it was difficult for us to control the game. Millwall deserved their reward.

“When it came to showing our quality one-on-one or finishing with composure today was not our day.

“I’m frustrated, the players are frustrated, our fans are frustrated. We suffered today because Millwall were strong, but they did their job. We knew that before the game.

“We have to learn that when games are so tight and close, we have to be ready. to defend and attack in small spaces.”

Gracia admitted that making wholesale changes for last weekend’s FA Cup defeat at Bristol City had not brought its reward against Millwall.

Gracia admitted: “We were coming from two weeks of not playing, but it was good for the players because we were coming off a busy schedule, so these two weeks were good to recover and to train and to be well prepared for this game.

“But after this performance, I have doubts as what was better.”