Neil Harris expressed frustration at having to sign off as Millwall boss with a narrow defeat to Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium but described the “beautiful momemt” he shared with the Lions’ travelling fans.
A first-half goal from Emmanuel Latte Lath denied Harris the chance of a winning send-off, after the club’s record goalscorer announced last week that he would be stepping down from his second spell in charge.
Harris, who saw Macauley Langstaff and Femi Azeez miss good early chances, said: “It’s a little bit frustrating and it’s felt like groundhog day for all of us this week, because where we’ve fallen short over the last 10 months is that little bit of quality up front.”
Laughing off last week’s post-match comments, when he dubbed a section of Lions fans “thickos” for questioning his team selection, Harris greeted the final whistle by embracing his players in front of Millwall’s few hundred travelling supporters.
He laughed: “It’s not the first tiff I’ve had with the Millwall fans over the years, but if there’s one person who can get away with having an evil mouth sometimes at Millwall Football Club, it’s Neil Harris.
“It was a beautiful moment for us and it’s a shame we were so many miles from home and more couldn’t have been here. It’s been a privilege to lead this club for so long, because it’s a brilliant and unique club and I’ll be back as a supporter in the future.
“I’ve really enjoyed this spell. It’s been an amazing, whirlwind 10 months but I’ve loved it, and it’s left me full of energy and excitement and passion for football.”
Insisting he has no immediate plans to return to the dugout, Harris added: “Over the coming weeks and months I’m going to travel around the country and see friends at Premier League clubs, and watch my local team Southend. I also look forward to Christmas, because I haven’t had many of them at home over the last 30 years in football.”
Boro boss Michael Carrick enjoyed the way his side found a way to bounce back from their midweek defeat at Leeds and move back into the play-off places.
“It was one of my favourite ones, for how the game went and what we had to do to win it,” said Carrick.
“They are an extremely tough team to play against, and we can pay better football, but I thought as the game went on we defended fantastically and limited them to not too much.
“We spoke about playing well enough to win games, and sometimes it takes a little extra skill set and dynamic. We had to find that tonight and the boys did well.”
Carrick admitted concerns over Luke Ayling, who departed in the first half with a knee injury having earlier gone off to have treatment for a foot injury.
“It was disappointing to lose Luke,” added Carrick. “He came off originally to get two or three stitches in his foot, then he came back on and did his knee. It’s unfortunate but we’ll have to see how he goes.”
