Neil Harris on 'magnificent' Millwall with team flying ahead of Sunderland and Portsmouth

Millwall head coach Neil Harris has eulogised about a hugely 'positive' week for the football club ahead of the international break and fixtures against Sunderland and Portsmouth.

The Lions beat Burnley and Leeds United at The Den before picking up a point against Stoke City over the past seven days as the London outfit continues to build momentum. Millwall are now unbeaten in seven Championship outings, conceding just two goals in those fixtures, and are the team to beat in the division right now.

That's bad news for upcoming opponents Sunderland and Portsmouth, who will spend the international break working out how to get the better out of the incredibly well organised Harris' side. The Black Cats sit at the summit of the table, but will be will be well aware of what awaited fellow promotion-chasers Burnley and Leeds United ahead of their visits to The Den, while Pompey are struggling in 23rd place.

Speaking after the point against Stoke, Harris told BBC London: “It’s an excellent point. The whole ground, and probably the whole football industry, thought ‘Millwall are 1-0 up, that’s how it’s going to finish’, but huge credit to Stoke, they are a good side in a good moment. They caused a lot of problems in the middle third all game, but we had the better chances. So I’m delighted with a point.

“Ultimately it’s not just one game – I look at the week and the seven points in a week. For us to play Burnley and Leeds at home and come to Stoke, a ground where we’ve notoriously we’ve not done great at for a long time, it’s a fantastic week for us.

“There was a thought process [on team selection] to trying to find Stoke’s weaknesses on their first line, getting an extra body higher up the pitch. But there was a big thought to not wanting to change a winning team and winning formula. I certainly didn’t want to leave George Honeyman out but you had to look at the fixture schedule and then look at three games in less than six days because we finished the game at five o’clock last Sunday and we start at 12:30 today. It’s absolute madness that we’re put in that situation. So I’ve had to rotate the squad."

An already buoyed Millwall side are also close to more boosts with the return of injured first team players. Whether Sunderland and Portsmouth come too early remains to be seen but the two week break could help the outfit get stars back to fitness.

Harris continued: “Every player that has stepped on the pitch has been magnificent. Every player who hasn’t stepped on the pitch – even ones back at the training ground like Murray Wallace, Wes Harding, Adam Mayor, Billy Mitchell and Aidomo Emakhu – have been absolutely magnificent at driving things and that’s what we need as a football club.

“They [Stoke City] got into good positions and had lots of possession but we had the better chances. Femi Azeez will be disappointed he didn’t get one goal if not two or three. We scored a fine goal, a well-worked free-kick to get Josh Coburn in. I’m delighted for him to come back and score. There were so many positives today and ultimately for the week.”