Alex Neil ranks current Millwall crop top of the pile.

Millwall boss Alex Neil believes his current squad is among the best he has worked with in his coaching career.

Neil is now in his 14th season as a manager, having led six different clubs and supervised three play-off promotion-winning teams, one at Hamilton, one at Sunderland, and one at Norwich in the historic 2014/15 Wembley final.

The 44-year-old will be trying to escape the play-offs this season, as the Lions are solidly in the automatic promotion fight and now second in the standings.

On Good Friday, his team rallied from behind to defeat fellow promotion contenders Middlesbrough 2-1 at the Riverside, with striker Josh Coburn scoring twice against his hometown club.

Josh Coburn celebrates scoring the winner at Middlesbrough on Good Friday. (Image: PA)

While Millwall fans dream of playing in the Premier League, Neil will not allow that distract his squad with six Championship games remaining.

“I’m just honest with them,” Neil explained. “This is perhaps the best group I’ve ever had, because there are no egos. Nobody is thinking, ‘Oh, don’t say anything to me that I don’t like.’ I can be completely honest with them, and they are as honest with one another.

“So, after halftime (against Boro), we realised we had underperformed. We knew we were second best. We knew they were better, but we also understood we weren’t going to go out there and start popping the ball around them, beating them in that way.

“But what we could do is keep our cool, be a little quicker in duels, win more headers and balls in general, and use the ball a little better to allow ourselves to get up the pitch. I thought we had completed all of it.

Prior to the Boro triumph, the South London side came from behind to draw with Ipswich at Portman Road, demonstrating their never-say-die mindset.

“That sort of summed up our season,” he said. We never give in. We never sort of stop. We’ll keep pushing, and I have great faith and belief in the players that if we fall short, it will be solely due to a lack of quality on the day. It will never be due to effort, determination, or anything like that.