Gary Rowett wasn’t happy with his sides ‘tepid’ start to their 1-1 draw with Bristol City.

Millwall went behind early on, as Pedro Pereira gave the away side the lead on nine minutes.

Despite a slow start, the Lions dominated proceedings and levelled through a Tomas Kalas own goal early in the second half.

On his side’s slow start, Rowett said: “It’s hard for me to look at that [five-point gap between Millwal and sixth place] positively.

“The first 20 minutes of the game, I felt as though we didn’t do anywhere near enough to grab the opportunity to close the gap and that’s what you have to do in moments like this, you have to put a big performance in from the start.

“We asked the players to start quickly and it was a really tepid first 20 minutes.

"We gave them opportunities to counterattack.”

After a slow opening twenty minutes, Millwall dominated the game, with Bristol City failing to
muster another shot on target all game, but it was Millwall’s lack of potency that cost them the win.

Rowett continued: “We’ve got to keep trying to find the solution for goals. Once again, we were pretty solid at the back, we couldn’t find that moment of quality that we’ve been lacking.

“From 20 minutes onward we dominated, we controlled the game.

"We had 13 or 14 shots to their three, it’s clear to see which side had the more attacking opportunities and attacking intent.

“Second half was much better, I had a few words at half time, and said ‘Are we going to try and land on second balls and be more aggressive?

"Are we going to be a little more forceful in the way we run forward?’ and to be fair to the players, second half we did that much, much better.

“We put them under the cosh, we made it really uncomfortable for them, and again, just that final ball, that final moment – whatever it is.

“But again, it was another game we got into some good areas.

"We tried to get the ball into the back of the net, but we just couldn’t find that little bit of finesse when it was required.”

Overall, the Millwall boss took the positives from the draw, seeing how sides approach games at the Den, and the reaction of his side in the second half as good signs.

“Certainly, second half I couldn’t ask for a lot more from the players, I think they gave everything to win the game.

“That’s Birmingham and Bristol that have both dropped in and played behind the ball, and made it difficult for us to find space.

"Two good sides that I felt we performed better than on the day.

“It shows a sign of where we are, but also some of the moments show why at the moment were not quite pushing as hard as we’d like for those top six positions.”