Wayne Rooney vows Derby will ‘keep fighting’ as relegation fears deepen

Derby manager Wayne Rooney delivered a defiant response to a 2-1 home defeat to Millwall that leaves his team deep in relegation trouble.

Rooney vowed to fight to the end after Derby lost at home for the first time in 2022, as goals from Jed Wallace and Tyler Burey gave Millwall victory.

He said: “We conceded two sloppy goals and then give Millwall credit they defended the box very well.

“But we kept pushing and I can’t knock the players, they kept going to the end and kept fighting.

“We will keep going and keep fighting. It’s a setback and a bad result but we’ll lose more games from now to the end of the season and it’s about the games we win.

“We need to turn some of the draws, especially away from home into wins, and we will keep fighting.

“As I keep saying, this league can throw up anything so we will keep going and believing.”

Millwall got off to a great start when Wallace’s whipped free kick in the second minute beat everyone and sailed inside the far post.

Tyler Burey should have added a second in the 24th minute but fired over after Wallace set him up but he made no mistake six minutes later.

Former Derby midfielder Mason Bennett powered through on the left and after Wallace’s shot was blocked, Burey smashed in the rebound.

Jason Knight fired wide before half-time and, although Derby had most of the second half, Millwall denied them any clear openings until Jake Cooper sliced an attempted clearance into his own net in the 89th minute.

The home fans sensed a comeback was on but Millwall defended strongly to claim a fifth victory in seven visits to Pride Park.

Millwall boss Gary Rowett was full of praise for the way his former club have responded to going into administration.

“We’ve had some good results here but