Neil Harris hailed the impact of “terrible” substitutes Femi Azeez and Casper De Norre after the pair combined for Millwall’s winner at Swansea.
Azeez and De Norre were both sent on after 72 minutes and the former crossed for the latter to sweep home the Lions’ last-minute goal.
“I wouldn’t say the subs before the goal made a difference,” Millwall manager Harris said after a 1-0 victory that lifted the Lions to 10th in the Sky Bet Championship standings.
“I did have a bit of banter with them in the changing room that they were terrible when they came on until the goal.
“But that’s their job, to impact the game. Whether they play well or not, Casper and Femi impacted the game.
“I made the changes before the game for a reason and I made the right subs. They just didn’t play as well as they did when they went on but came up with a brilliant moment.”
Belgian midfielder De Norre has scored only twice in 46 Millwall appearances – both at Swansea.
De Norre’s only previous goal was in another 1-0 Millwall win on the final day of last season.
Harris said: “I’m a little bit superstitious like that. Casper couldn’t start, but I put him on as a 10 because he scored here last year and thought he may be the one that finds something.
“So that might be a little bit of a pat on the back for me and a little bit of luck.
“I’ve been at the club eight months and I think Casper has scored one goal in training.
“We may be got a little bit more than we deserved. It wasn’t one of our strongest performances of the season, but I’m delighted with the mentality of the group.
“We hung in there. The application of the players was immense and we found a moment of quality.”
Swansea’s defeat dropped them to 17th and they have now gone 525 minutes without scoring, the club’s worst run in front of goal for 28 years.
Luke Williams’ side are the lowest scores in the Championship with eight goals, three behind Cardiff and QPR.
Williams said: “I am not sure what more we need to do to score a goal, but we didn’t and we compounded that by conceding right at the death.
“We have had nearly 70 per cent of the ball in the last three games so there’s no lack of confidence.
“There isn’t a lack of organisation. We just have to worry about being more clinical.
“I’m fed up with not being (able) to give you (the media) answers. I am fed up with not being able to give the fans what they deserve.
“It’s a difficult situation because there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount wrong, but there’s a lot wrong at the same time if that makes sense.”
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