Gary Rowett believes Millwall missed the energy from the crowd in their 3-2 defeat to Derby County at an empty Den on Saturday.

With all remaining matches of the season to be played behind closed doors, Rowett believes his side will need to adapt without the roar of the notoriously passionate Lions faithful.

"That was always the challenge.’ Rowett explained.

"I knew it was going to feel strange.

"We’re obviously a team that thrives on the energy of the crowd in certain moments of the game and I think we found it hard when the game fell flat."

Rowett believes home advantage may well be a thing of the past in post-COVID football, with the lack of crowds seemingly effecting home sides.

"‘We’ve seen a massive swing in terms of results for the away teams, whether that’s the pressure of home teams not having the advantage of your own fans, mentally or psychologically maybe that a big problem, up and down the leagues, but for us it’s a huge thing.

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"No more huge than anyone else, but if you want to press, you get the crowd behind you then you get a bit of momentum to do that.

“If you pin a team in with a cross you get a little bit of momentum for 10, 15 minutes.

"Of course, that’s not there and possibly, what I’ve seen in the first games, it might be that the more technical teams find it easier, because they’ve got the ball a lot more and they don’t necessarily need the tempo of the game to help them.