'True Millwall' will return, says fit-again Coburn

Millwall striker Josh Coburn says they are confident of rediscovering their form after a slow start to the new season. The Lions have won just five of their opening 14 matches, leaving them 13th in the Championship, having finished third in 2025-2026 and missing automatic promotion by a single point before losing to Hull City in the play-off semi-finals. Head coach Alex Neil has been without a significant number of players including Coburn, Tristan Crama, Casper De Norre, Mihailo Ivanovic, Ryan Leonard and Massimo Luongo. Coburn, who has only managed six appearances so far this season, returned from his latest setback as a substitute in Tuesday's 3-0 defeat at in-form Birmingham City. "I started the season really well, and felt really good," he told BBC Radio London. "I just wanted to have this full season, but luckily with the long international break I haven't missed too many games, and just hope to bounce back and help the team as much as possible. "I think the physios hate me to be honest because I always try and push myself as much as possible, and I always try and get back a week early." Birmingham into top two with win over Millwall Neil concern over De Norre as injuries mount The 23-year-old missed three months last season with a hamstring injury, but returned to score eight goals in Millwall's final 18 league matches. "There are little things you can work on when you're not fit, and that definitely helped me last season, coming back from a long lay-off and felt really good and ended the season really well, and I hope that's the case this season," he added. "Especially with it being so early on in the campaign, you don't want to be rushing back too quickly and get another injury. "That's the worse case scenario, you need to make sure your body is ready. I feel really good now, so I'm hoping I can try and kick on." The Lions are just five points off this season's extended six play-off places, with another 24 regular-season matches still to play, including Saturday's game at West Brom and another nine in the next nine weeks. "There's so many games in the Championship, there's always the next game. You don't dwell on things as much," Coburn said. "Everyone is progressing well, and we should have almost everyone back after the break, and then you'll really see the true Millwall and the results we saw last year. "Everything is so close together. You win on Saturday, and then after the break we've got three back to back games, win those and you can fly up the table. "We know we just need to concentrate on ourselves, stay grounded, not get too high or too low and just look to the next game." Latest Millwall news, analysis and fan views