Millwall skipper Jake Cooper caused a reaction with his post-match appraisal of the Lions’ 3-0 defeat to Birmingham City at St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park on Tuesday night.

After romping to a 4-1 victory over lowly Derby County on Saturday, there was confidence that Alex Neil’s team may continue their rise in the Championship rankings.

Instead, they were the team who fell behind three goals in a matter of minutes, with Alex Cochrane, Max Bird, and Jay Stansfield all scoring before the half-hour mark.

Blues rose into the automatic promotion places as a result, with Chris Davies’ side winning four of their past five games and scoring 14 goals in that span.

Millwall, which finished third last season, has had a mixed start to the current season, winning five of their first 14 games while falling to 13th after their sixth loss.

Jake Cooper provides a strong appraisal of Millwall’s loss against St. Andrew’s.

Cooper, 31, is well-versed in the Championship, having made 450 appearances for the Lions and his previous club, Reading.

Although Birmingham were cruising to win by the time Bird made it 2-0 on 16 minutes, Millwall created the lone ‘big chance’ of the first half, despite the hosts making 15 chances before the break.

Cooper, speaking to Millwall’s in-house media after the game, felt that the scoreline did not accurately reflect the overall balance of play.

Obviously, the first sensation is disappointment, as you mentioned,” he remarked. “I don’t think they did enough to score three goals against us.””We missed crucial opportunities to regain momentum.”At this level, both boxes make all the difference. They were clinical, and we were unfortunately missing in that area today,” Cooper said.

Birmingham City fans are confused by Jake Cooper’s Millwall decision.

Davies’ side has made a habit of humiliating visitors at St. Andrew’s, with Birmingham scoring at least three goals in their third consecutive home game.

Millwall barely tested Ryan Allsop twice out of 16 tries, which tells its own tale. Cooper’s appraisal baffled some home supporters.One Blues fan remarked, “My head would be on Mars if we’d gotten thumped 3-0 and my centre half who was playing so well said this.””It’s funny how every team we’ve beaten this season says the same thing, yet we’re second in the league, sour grapes,” observed another Bluenose.Commentators yesterday night stated “this is a very un-Millwall-like performance” on a few occasions and remember it being said on Saturday as well. “Maybe we just know how to nullify teams and make them look a little average?” another commented.

It has also been suggested that this is a common attitude held by teams who have lost in B9, with another verdict reading: “Funny every team we’ve beat this season say the same thing, yet here we are second in the league, sour grapes.”

“How can he claim Birmingham didn’t do enough to score their three goals?” It was a thrill to see how fluid Birmingham was. “The game was over in about 20 minutes,” confirmed the widespread consensus among Blues fans.

Some Millwall fans disagreed with Cooper’s approach, with one saying, “lol they looked like scoring every attack in that first half. Could have been five or six.”

Alex Neil gives a similar verdict despite Birmingham City’s cutting edge v Millwall.

If Birmingham fans were perplexed by Cooper’s stance, they may have felt the same way after reading Neil’s post-match reflections.Although we created chances, our lack of clinical edge in the last third was a major issue, according to the player.Goals affect the game. Despite having four shots, three of which were successful, our lack of discipline during the first half hindered our performance.We’re quite unhappy that we weren’t able to create over the weekend. It is unfortunate how we lost the game.”

Millwall will attempt to reply against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns on Saturday, while Birmingham will host Swansea City.