Richard Chaplow says he is happy to fill in at right-back following an impressive cameo appearance during Tuesday’s 3-1 home defeat to Birmingham.

The 29-year-old came off the bench at the start of the second half to replace Justin Hoyte with the Lions trailing 2-0 down.

But despite usually playing in midfield, Chaplow looked like a natural in his new role and caused Birmingham plenty of problems with some dangerous crosses whipped into the box.

Lee Gregory scored on his first Millwall start to get the hosts right back into the contest, only for Wes Thomas to add a late third for the Blues as the Lions pressed forward in search of an equaliser.

“We threw caution to the wind in the second half,” admitted Chaplow.

“Putting me on at right-back was a bit of a gamble because I’ve never played there and I’m an attacking player.

“But I’ve been around long enough to use my noggin and know when to go, when to stay and when to get crosses in, which I think I did.

“Mathias Ranegie was causing them a few problems and it was great to see Lee notch one and hopefully that’s the first of many.

“He’s looked sharp since he’s come in but he’s not had many chances so it was great for him to get on the scoresheet.”

Chaplow’s unexpected involvement at right-back comes as Ian Holloway continues to try and work out how to fill the void caused by Carlos Edwards’ recent injury against Nottingham Forest.

“I’ve played there a few times in training since Carlos got injured,” explained Chaplow.

“What happened to Carlos was terrible and with Justin Hoyte having not played many games recently, the manager wanted to have a look at few options.

“I was one of those and so was Jimmy Abdou - it’s not a position I’ve played before but a football pitch is a football pitch and I’ve been around long enough so I should know the game by now. I half know the role from listening to coaching sessions.

“It was disappointing when the third goal went in because I thought we were going to nick a draw but it was just nice to get on the pitch, whichever position I’m in.”

Holloway took more than an hour to emerge from the dressing room on Tuesday and Chaplow revealed there had been an inquest to discover what had gone so wrong, particularly in the opening 45 minutes.

“The manager was very disappointed with the result so he had a few things he wanted to recap with us straight away while it was still fresh in the memory.

“He went over a few things and we obviously have work to do because it’s not going our way on the pitch at the moment.

“It’s back to the grindstone in training this morning to put things right on Saturday.

“The manager is an enthusiastic person - be that on the training pitch or just in life in general. If we’re down, he’ll pick us up but there’s no time to be down in the Championship.

“I’ve learnt that in the past 12 years of my career.

“The games come thick and fast so we can’t feel sorry for ourselves and we have to keep going.

“There were plenty of positives in the second half albeit when you look at the result, 3-1, it looks like we’ve had a bit of a pasting.

“The damage was probably done in the first half but the way we responded was fantastic.”

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