Stand up and be counted

THREE defeats from four matches gives a hint Athletic might have benefited from the postponement of the home Millwall clash to this Saturday.

And Lions boss Neil Harris has sounded a similar note to that of opposite number David Dunn after the most recent loss at Barnsley — one that sees his men sitting 10th in Sky Bet League One, six points adrift of the play-off zone.

“We coach the players on the training pitch, we show them videos. But you can only coach them to a certain degree. The players have to take responsibility themselves,” said Harris, bemoaning two instances of poor defending that helped Barnsley gain a 2-1 win at Oakwell last weekend.

“We need to stop the errors. If you’re sloppy during the week in training then you’re going to be sloppy on match days. We made some bad decisions. Some players wanted to play their own style of football rather than play to the strengths of the team.”

The 4-0 win at Southend referred to by Harris, on Monday, December 28, was something of a shock result given that the Shrimpers — 5-2 winners at SportsDirect.com Park this season — had won four of their previous five up to that point. It sums up the inconsistency of Millwall and the division in general.