Millwall boss Neil Harris: I'd swap Bournemouth FA Cup upset for win over Charlton next week

Magic of the cup: Millwall's win over Premier League opposition was the upset of the round
AFP/Getty Images
Declan Warrington7 January 2017

Millwall manager Neil Harris insisted his team could have beaten Bournemouth by a greater margin than their 3-0 scoreline - but revealed he would swap their FA Cup upset for victory over rivals Charlton next week.

A convincing performance against Premier League opposition, with goals from Steve Morison, Shaun Cummings and Shane Ferguson, secured the League One side's place in the competition's fourth round.

It came after Bournemouth's Eddie Howe made 11 changes to a team that was without its usual fluidity, but, despite the potential for the result to further galvanise Millwall's season and the extra effort in training that went into achieving it, Harris believes his side have more pressing concerns.

"I'd like to play at home in the next round," said the 39-year-old, who has overseen four wins and a draw from an unchanged XI.

"(But) I would swap this victory for a win at Charlton, that's how big (next week's game) is.

"We defended really well as a team and at the right times we were clinical - 3-0 doesn't flatter us. We could've scored more.

"We knew Bournemouth would make changes, they have got a big few games coming up. We knew there would be some minutes for other people.

"My players probably worked a bit harder in training on Thursday and Friday to know how we would nullify their threats. The players didn't quite get it at first and they had to stay a little bit longer on the training pitch.

"It wasn't that they didn't get it right, so come back later. We wanted to get messages across. The higher you go up the divisions, the minor details are really important. For example set-plays. We showed that with our first goal."

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