Neil loving life at 'proper club' Millwall

Alex Neil has won six and drawn four of his 15 Championship matches in charge at Millwall

Millwall head coach Alex Neil says the job has been "everything I expected it to be and better" since taking over from Neil Harris in December.

The former Sunderland boss told BBC Radio London the players and staff deserved a lot of credit for the way they had got back on track following the exit of club legend Harris.

Millwall had won one of their previous nine Championship games when the 43-year-old took over on 30 December.

But the Lions have won six of his 15 Championship games in charge to move within six points of the play-offs with eight games of the season remaining.

"The club's been supremely welcoming, the fans have been brilliant in terms of their support for the team. Everything about it feels and smells like a proper football club," he said.

"It's a little bit nostalgic for me in terms of, I'm quite old school in my mindset – I like things to be done properly, I like the grittiness of football. For me it's been highly enjoyable."

'Play-off talk makes no difference - I hope they're right!'

Millwall face the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light on Saturday before a run in that includes visits to Sheffield United, Blackburn Rovers and promotion-chasing Burnley on the final day of the season, as well as home games against Middlesbrough and Norwich City.

Neil said he does not see talk of a late play-off tilt as a distraction but said his team understood the task of a "very hard fixture list".

"I don't think that it makes any difference to me, if people want to talk about us being in the shake up for the play-offs then fine," he said. "I hope they're right!"

Neil came into the job just before the opening of the January transfer window, with fan favourite Romain Esse quickly sold to Crystal Palace.

Players including Tristan Crama, Aaron Connolly, Luke Cundle and Camiel Neghli were all brought in during a busy month for the south-east London club.

Ra'ees Bangura-Williams scored on his Millwall debut in January and has made 13 appearances for the club

But it was the emergence of academy graduate Ra'ees Bangura-Williams that drew much of the attention in the wake of Esse's exit and Neil said the England Under-20 international could serve as an example of the reward for young players who perform when given the chance.

The 20-year-old came off the bench to make his debut against Dagenham & Redbridge in the FA Cup third round at The Den in January and scored the final goal in a 3-0 win.

"Next game again he made a marked impact – started and created a goal, started again – I think he hit the post and created another goal, and then from there he really grew in confidence.

"His turnaround is quite incredible. I don't think it happens very often. You can see what he's got and what he's done since then and he's put himself in an excellent position."