Manager confident ahead of Lions clash

Freedman looks ahead to Saturday's game against Millwall

Dougie Freedman believes that it is only a matter of time before Wanderers are firing on all cylinders at the Reebok Stadium.

The Whites entertain Millwall this weekend looking for the team’s first home victory of the season, and the manager is confident that his side have enough about them to secure three points against the Lions.

"Let’s not hide the fact that we’ve been very unlucky at home," he said in his pre-match press conference. "We’ve gone into the lead quite a few times and we’ve just not quite had that determination to hold onto it.

"Our away form is good – we’re working very hard at it, but I think the lads are now understanding that tactically we need to be a bit better than we have been and I think we showed that last week. 

"Hopefully against Millwall we can get that goal to get in front and make sure we stay in the lead to get that win which I think we deserve.

He added: "We’re not getting beat at home – that is the small detail it comes down to. We’ve been unfortunate in one or two areas, but we’ve drawn too many games and we need to make sure we start picking up wins at home. 

"Our away form is taking care of itself – we just need to make sure that we approach the game in a certain way to make sure we win it."

With Wanderers set to come up against former loanee Liam Feeney this weekend, Freedman admitted his disappointment at the winger’s return to his parent club a fortnight ago but paid tribute to the 26-year-old’s professionalism during his short spell with the club.

"Liam did well for us – he suited our kind of style of play,” he explained. "He was a young guy with pace and determination who was very committed and did well for us in a short space of time here.

"The way I run the football club, I will not let anybody put a gun to our heads. I’ve got a responsibility to the football club to make sure that financially we’re in a good position.

"I just felt that although we wanted to keep him, I wasn’t prepared to pay the amount of money they were asking for so he went back. He might play, he might not, but we’ll have to wait and see."

Having been handed an injury boost in the form of Andre Moritz and Craig Davies this week, the manager explained that Adam Bogdan has suffered a small set-back as the goalkeeper aims to return from a knee injury.

"With Adam, he’s probably been set back a couple more weeks as the healing isn’t quite how we’d like it to be. 

"We’ve got very good medical staff here who I trust a lot – I’d rather have him back fit than half measures – we’ve had that problem with David Wheater who when he was introduced at the start of the season as he wasn’t quite up to the intensity of matches plus training.

"He’s another one that we’ve got to kind of strip back – we’ve got to make sure that when asked to train and play at the intensity that I require that he can do that without falling down, and we need to do that with Adam."
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