Neil hails depleted Lions' grit
Neil: "I thought it was an unbelievable performance."
- Published
Alex Neil hailed Millwall's grit and determination after a much-changed Lions side took Crystal Palace to penalties at Selhurst Park before exiting the EFL Cup in the third round.
Ryan Leonard's injury-time header sent the tie to spot-kicks but two Lions efforts were saved as their South London rivals went through to round four.
Boss Neil told BBC Radio London: "I thought we were terrific. I thought it was an unbelievable performance.
"We have got six or seven first team players missing which would obviously help contribute a lot, tonight we made eight changes, we lose the keeper in the warm-up and lose Dan Kelly after 20 minutes, it's certainly been challenging.
"We've got two young lads in the middle, we drilled them in a different shape in one day and for them to take all that on board and deliver the sort of performance they did against Premier League opposition speaks volumes of them in terms of grit and determination - all the things you'd expect of a Millwall team."
Palace made only four changes from the side which drew with Sunderland in the Premier League on Saturday and Neil added: "They had a lot of first team players playing.
"We go to the last minute, regardless of who we are playing, we keep pushing and trying and I thought we deserved to take it to penalties.
"You're just hoping we can step up and it'll be our night but unfortunately it wasn't.
"It gives us confidence in ourselves of what we are capable of. There's not a lot wrong (so far this season). We've got seven or eight players missing, once we get them back we'll be a lot stronger and we'll win games."
