Steve Bruce was happier with Wednesday’s second-half display at Millwall after a poor first 45 minutes led to an interval ‘pep talk’ from the new boss.
Speaking after the goalless draw at The New Den, Bruce said: “The first half left a lot to be desired. I thought we were better in the second and arguably created the better chances. We were better when we made the switch and we might have nicked it at the end with Fletcher’s chance.”
Bruce explained: “At half time I asked the lads, did you enjoy that, and not one of them nodded their heads. So the second half was much brighter, we played with more energy, and we might have nicked a winner.”
He added: “Any team of mine is always encouraged to play and I think we got that message across for the second half. All of a sudden, we were a different animal. It was good that we got the response because if we hadn’t we would have got rolled over.”
Bruce said he also wanted to focus on the positives of getting a point, another clean sheet and looking solid at the back, saying: “That’s eight out of 12 clean sheets and that takes some doing. So we’re getting it right at one end and now we need things to click into gear at the other.”