Harris salutes Archer after keeper’s second-half heroics deny Blackburn

Posted Sunday, August 12, 2018 by PA

Millwall boss Neil Harris heaped praise on goalkeeper Jordan Archer after his heroics earned the visitors a 0-0 draw against Blackburn at Ewood Park.

Millwall dominated the majority of the first half, with George Saville and Steve Morison both striking a post.

But Rovers were denied by the crossbar in first-half injury time and that gave them the impetus to push on after the restart. They did so emphatically, but found Scotland international Archer in inspired form.

Twice in the second half the Millwall keeper stood firm to deny Danny Graham when the striker was through on goal and he produced a stunning save to keep out debutant Joe Rothwell..

The Lions are winless in their last six games against Blackburn, but their manager was happy to leave with a point and was on not doubt who to thank for securing it.

Harris said: “I thought Blackburn played well second half, we never got going and our use of ball was really poor. When you are defending like we were, you have to rely on keeping the ball and the turnover of possession was too often.

“When it’s like that and it’s not quite happening, you need to get a clean sheet. There are various ways of getting a clean sheet – deny opportunities. But if you do give them away, you need your goalkeeper, and I thought the goalkeeper was excellent today.

“He was certainly our best player today. Jordan was man of the match for me, definitely.

“I thought the two close-up ones were really good, because he’s facing a really good striker in Danny Graham. I think a strong team, a good dressing room, get a point today at Blackburn on that second-half performance.

“A weak mentality team gets beaten, so I’m really pleased with the dressing room mentality. We got a clean sheet when we weren’t very good.”

Although they failed to find a winner, Blackburn showed signs that they belong in the Sky Bet Championship and, with better finishing, would have picked up a first win of the season.

Tony Mowbray was philosophical after the game. He felt the result and performance were positive for a team still getting used to the division.

He said: “First half was a non-event from our point of view. Millwall played a lot of balls forward, played in our half, we couldn’t get out.

“They hit the post twice and we needed to reset at half-time and get back to our basics of how we play.

“Second half, we did just that. We dominated for long spells, we created the better chances. Danny Graham had two one-on-ones with the goalkeeper that you’d hope, on another day, he would score given his record of nicking goals like that.

“I thought it was just more like us in the second half. But we’re standing here 0-0. We’re undefeated in two games, but could have won them both, and yet in the first half today we could have lost the game I suppose.

“We’ll take the points. I feel we’re still acclimatising to the division and the extra bit of quality.

“We’ll take the positives of a clean sheet, the fact we created chances second half and could have won it.”