Rotherham United winger Chiedozie Ogbene insists the players are determined to make the fans proud ahead of their first home game of the Sky Bet Championship campaign against Millwall on Saturday.
The fixture will be the first-ever competitive match to be played behind-closed-doors at the AESSEAL New York Stadium and fans’ favourite Chieo has stressed that the team know the supporters will be behind them wherever they are watching this weekend.
The Millers' first assignment on home soil is against a Millwall side who finished just two points outside the Play-Off places last term and Ogbene is expecting a tough test against the Lions.
“Millwall are a physical team so we need to stay focused and not give away silly fouls and things like that," Ogbene told www.themillers.co.uk.
“We just need to play our game and focus on ourselves, that’s when we’re most dangerous I feel.
“Last year when we were at home and the fans were roaring with 10 minutes to go, it gave us an extra 10%.
“We can feel that they (the fans) will be at home routing for us and we just want to go out there and do them proud.”
The Millers began their second tier campaign with an away victory at fellow Sky Bet League One promotion-winners Wycombe Wanderers.
Michael Ihiekwe’s injury-time header secured all three points for Paul Warne’s side at Adams Park and Chieo believes going right to the end is a great characteristic for any side to have.
“We were delighted to get the three points, to start the season with a win is always a great achievement, especially in the Championship.
“We know Wycombe are a good team, it wasn’t the best of games but sometimes you have to win ugly and move forward.
“It just shows that we have the hunger. It gives me confidence that even when things aren’t going our way we have the characters and the mentality in the team to dig deep and get results.
“When we got the win, everyone was smiling and everyone was happy. That is the feeling we want to get," Ogbene said.
The result in Buckinghamshire gave the Millers an early away victory and Chieo admitted he and his teammates were delighted to get off to a good start.
“It’s always a good start, home or away, a win is a great way to start. It gives us momentum early on, Wycombe are a good side and I think people will get frustrated with the way they play their football on their home pitch.
“So to go there with that mentality and get a win, we know when we have better days we can potentially do even better.
“Everyone is very happy and together. We’ve got a lot of good new players in and everyone else has improved.
“I think the focus this year is really good, we’re not getting ahead of ourselves, we’re taking it game by game,” he added.