Gary Rowett felt Millwall's second-half blitz was long overdue as they romped to a 4-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday at the Den.

Millwall had won just once at home in the Sky Bet Championship season but Scott Malone and Ben Thompson scored in quick succession to turn the contest after half-time.

Kenneth Zohore's penalty had put the hosts level following Callum Paterson's opener, with Tom Bradshaw adding late gloss to the scoreline.

"We certainly haven't seen that (the second half) coming very many times this season and it was a game that we had to make some changes and it was a bit of a gamble," said Rowett.

"For the first 30 minutes I have to say I was disappointed with the performance.

"I think it was a tight game and there was nothing in it. Sheffield Wednesday were as attritional as us but they got the one break.

"We actually kicked on a little bit and just started to impose ourselves on the game before the penalty, which changed our whole psychology.

"From then on in I felt we were completely dominant in terms of attacking moments.

"From there on in it was could we take the chances? (Keiren) Westwood makes three brilliant, brilliant saves early on in the second half and you wonder whether we are going to score that second goal.

"A moment of brilliance gets it. Scott Malone has been brilliant for us and what a great individual goal.

"From there on in it was how many could we score?

"We kept our foot on the gas, which we haven't done, and I'm really pleased with the performance."

Wednesday's opener came within 10 minutes, Scotland forward Paterson had two stabs from six yards out, with his second turning in Elias Kachunga's cut back.

Millwall were level when Zohore tucked away a penalty following a foul on Ryan Leonard, with Malone and Thompson on hand to emphatically complete the turnaround.

Malone skipped past three players before sliding the ball past Westwood and an attempted cross from Thompson a minute later evaded everyone to turn the game on its head with 20 minutes to play.

Bradshaw touched home Mahlon Romeo's goal-bound shot for a late flourish, leaving Wednesday licking their wounds with interim boss Neil Thompson.

"We've got to regroup. You get energised by how you play, and we need to get back again – Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday," he said.

"A really tough second half. We controlled the first half, but the penalty gave them the encouragement they needed and then the second half they made life difficult. Joey (Pelupessy) slipped, which was really unfortunate. But I think we were still in the game at half-time.

"They're direct, and we couldn't deal with it. We looked leggy in the second half. We have to dust ourselves down and remain positive. There's a lot still to play for.

"The other team are allowed to play and they played to their strengths and we were at it second half, but in my time as caretaker we've given as good as we've got. We've got to regroup and go again on Tuesday.

"We do have to learn from it in terms of how the Championship is played, and you have to be able to deal with that. It's what football is. We don't get carried away and we don't get too down."