Neil Harris demanded his Millwall players maintain their focus as they pursue an unlikely place in the Championship play-offs.
A 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest means they remain in contention for a top-six finish, despite having been among the favourites for relegation at the season’s start.
Their hopes could be strengthened by a further victory on Monday against Ipswich after Harris’ improving team scored after only 27 seconds through Shaun Williams’ powerful header and consistently looked in control after Lee Gregory’s 10th goal of the season, in the 33rd minute, doubled their lead.
Millwall also extended their unbeaten league run to a 13th match, against a team that had not lost in seven.
Having previously played down their hopes of promotion their 40-year-old manager said: “The play-offs are a reality. We’ve had to work long and hard in this unbeaten run.
“It’s 13 games league games unbeaten since New Year’s Day, but we’ve still got seven more to go. What we’ve achieved so far has been miraculous, but I want more – I’ve told them that.
“It helps having no pressure on us, we roll on to the next one. Straight after the game, it’s ‘Monday now, let’s go and beat Ipswich’.
“That’s the focus of the group. The players and the dressing room’s driving it. You can see the spirit; the players laughing and joking during the game, and that’s fine in top teams as long as they do both sides of the game.”
Harris was also asked about the fact they had scored inside the opening minute for the third time in their past four games.
“It’s a good habit,” he added. “We like to impose ourselves on games, and certainly wanted to get after Forest.
“When we start like that, and have moments when we’re on the front foot and aggressive, that’s how they train against each other every day.
“If a team starts slow they’re going to have a rude awakening.”
Forest manager Aitor Karanka criticised his team for conceding a goal from a situation that they had spent the international break preparing for.
“We’ve been working for two weeks and knew Millwall played aggressively with long balls, crosses and second balls,” he said.
“We let them play long balls, cross the ball twice, so I’m disappointed.”