Millwall boss Gary Rowett admitted that his side crumbled under the pressure, as they blew a shot at the Championship play-offs with a 4-3 home defeat to Blackburn.
A final-day win would have guaranteed the Lions a place in the top-six, but they squandered a 3-1 lead at half-time to open the door for Sunderland, who joined Middlesbrough, Luton and Coventry in playing for a place in the Premier League.
“As soon as their second went in, you could see the nerves appear in the team and space began to open up everywhere,” Rowett said afterwards.
“We got ourselves into a brilliant position, but you have to handle these big moments, you have to do the right things and show control and calmness.
“Sometimes games throw different challenges and you either deal with them or you don’t. We didn’t and we have to work out the reasons why.
“We had to be resilient. We haven’t conceded four in a game all season before now, which shows what pressure does.”
Having spent much of the campaign in the play-off places, the result left Millwall in eighth, a place higher than last season but with one point fewer, although Rowett insisted they have made progress this term. He urged his players to use the pain of another near-miss to go again next season.
“The season as a whole has been strong, one of progress, but at this moment in time it feels like an excuse to use that,” he said.
“All I said to the players is that sometimes in these moments you have to feel a bit of this pain and think about how you can be better. You have to use that as a little bit of fire and motivation to be better.
“In a couple of days’ time, when a few of the lads are sat on a beach somewhere, they may start to reflect a bit more and detach emotionally.
“At the moment, everyone in the club is just so disappointed that we got so close but couldn’t manage to get it over the line.”
