Millwall succumbed to a 1-0 loss on their travels to Coventry last night, falling to seventh in the Championship.
Viktor Gyokeres broke his goal drought in scoring his first in eight league games to give Coventry a deserved win.
Coventry now rise to 11th in the league, but a lot can change as teams catch up with each other in terms of games played.
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But despite the defeat, Millwall can still take positives despite the result.
League position still promising
The Championship is a tough league and no results are guaranteed. There’s plenty of time left in the season but the race for the play-offs will not be easy.
For now, they have games in hand on five of the rest of the top eight in the league. For some context, a win moves them up two places and would leave the Lions just a point behind Luton.
Season-defining run of games
Last night’s result also highlights that the four fixtures left in February could define Millwall's season.
Millwall play the top two teams in Sheffield United and Burnley, before taking on a struggling Stoke side and finishing February with an important game against Luton. The last game especially could go some way to deciding the play-off picture.
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The positives are if the Lions can come through those games unscathed, they will take a giant leap toward the play-offs.
Even some tough results should not mean the season is over.
Burnley and Sheffield have shown themselves to be the toughest games in this league and there is no shame in losing to them. How they fare might reflect how they would manage if they do get promoted.
Rowett's honesty will be a positive
The final thing we learnt is that Gary Rowett is willing to be honest about his side’s performances and this will eventually stand them in good stead.
The Millwall boss was good in his assessment of how his team played, he said: “We couldn’t find that moment today but did I think we deserved a draw? Probably not. Did I think we did enough with the ball to get a draw? Probably not, but nevertheless sometimes you can nick one at the end and take a point.”
The awareness that in the Championship and football as a whole results are sometimes more important than performances is important as the season approaches the business end.
In the case of opposition goal scorer Gyokeres, he was glowing: “And against a team like Coventry with Gyokeres up front, you know what you can’t do is give balls away and leave him with space against defenders because he’s very, very good at utilising that space.
“And I thought at times, although they have got other technical players in there, in those transitions he looked an immense threat.”
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