Millwall’s record signing, Ryan Leonard explained that it was finally nice how he felt to finally get off the mark in a Lions shirt on Saturday when he scored against Ipswich.

The ex-Sheffield United man chipped the keeper from 25-yards to make it 3-0 after a ricocheted free-kick fell into his path.

“I think the first one is always the hardest to get, you put a lot of pressure on yourself,” Leonard explained.

“Personally, I put a lot of pressure on myself to try and chip in with a few goals. I have been a bit disappointed but to finally get the first one was nice, it was a good time in the game and I think it killed the game a little bit with the third goal and it managed to see us over the line.

“It was one of them where if you don’t catch it properly it goes right back to the keeper’s arms and it’s a bit embarrassing. It was nice that I managed to get good contact on it and as soon as I caught it I thought it had a chance. I thought the defender might have cleared it but luckily it had enough pace to go in.”

Leonard’s propelling long throw played an integral part in the opening goal on his debut against Leeds and it again caused damage to Ipswich for Lee Gregory’s second goal.

“I think it is a good option to have. We don’t always use it from the other side but it can be a good option, especially with the way we are at set pieces, we cause havoc in their box.

“Thankfully enough we have got to another goal off it. Big Coops has done well with a couple of flicks. It is was nice to get that goal right after half time, which the gaffer wanted, and it almost settled us down a little bit for the second half.

Despite now winning three consecutive home games, the Lions are yet to win away from The Den and Ryan Leonard touched on how Millwall are trying to convert their home to away games.

“I think we need to be harder to beat away from home. We have not got as many points as we would have liked. Performances have not been great other than maybe the last couple away games, but other than that we have not played well away from home.

“The games at The Den speak for themselves. We are at it; the fans are at it and they are great for us. Our away form needs to be sorted and luckily for us we have got a whole week now to get on the training pitch with the manager and hopefully get it sorted.

“I don’t think it’s not for the lack of trying. Everyone tries so hard away from home in games. I think we just need to manage games better and I think that will come with confidence from winning games at home.