Millwall captain Alex Pearce revealed what he believes is needed to take the Lions to the next step.

There’s no denying that under Gary Rowett a new brand of football is being implemented in South Bermondsey.

Since replacing the well-respected Neil Harris at the end of October, Millwall have lost just one game in seven under Rowett, and Pearce believes they have the fundamentals to kick-on.

“We’ve got the first bit, we are hard to beat,” he said.

“Now we need to work on how to hurt teams going the other way, we’ve great players with a real attacking threat.

“We’ve shown we can play on the break and hurt teams.”

The defender who joined from Derby permanently in the summer after a six-month loan spell at the end of last season felt that if they could recruit wisely in January then they could become a team challenging higher up the table.

“If we can add a bit more depth then we’ve got the foundations in the squad.

“If we can add quality, to help us out, then that’ll be more than welcome.

I think if can we add that bit of extra quality in the extra third the boys will admit that against Nottingham Forest (2-2), sometimes the end product could’ve been better.

“The crosses for the front men, to service them in better ways.

“That’s how we take ourselves to the next stage of development.

“We showed today we can build up play in the first half, but it’s a case of bringing it out more often and on a consistent basis.”

Millwall travel to Bristol City on Tuesday.