AFTER bringing back a point from the Lions’ Den, Phil Parkinson praised his players’ commitment to the cause.

Wanderers survived an onslaught at Millwall, typified by goalscorer Filipe Morais putting his body on the line at the other end of the pitch.

And it may be that willingness to fight to the end that sees the club survive and hopefully, thrive.

“In English football any points you get are hard-earned, as that one was,” said Parkinson, who takes his team to St Andrew’s to face Birmingham City tonight.

“We knew going into the game, it was Millwall’s first home game in the Championship, and after the disappointment of their defeat the week before it was going to be a full-on, committed performance that we needed and it was.

“So we got a point on the board and it’s a start.

“The supporters appreciated at the end what they had seen from the lads, it’s key. People spend a lot of money to watch us play, they take a lot of time travelling and it’s important that we reward that.

“It’s something for us to build on at Birmingham and now we’re focusing purely on St Andrew’s.

“As well as the effort we know we need the quality, we had a group on Saturday who really went to the wire to get something and it was good to see.

“I’m pleased to have got off the mark at the weekend, it was important to get something after getting beaten against Leeds. I think we earned it, we earned the right to come away with something for the sheer commitment levels. There are things we need to get better at,we know that, but we will do, we’ll keep making progress, but in terms of asking players to put in an honest, committed shift we’ll take the point.”

Few players in the squad typify the strength – and strength of character – Parkinson has instilled since he came to the Macron more than David Wheater.

The boss was delighted by the performance of West Ham loan defender Reece Burke at Millwall.

But there was a welcome sight at Lostock yesterday morning, as Wheater stepped up his training as he recovers from a back problem.

“We’ve got Wheats out running today, he’s made a massive improvement from where he was prior to the Leeds game,” revealed Parkinson. “Whether tomorrow comes too early for him we will see.

“He won’t be far off for the weekend though. With David we just want to get him right, we’ve said already that, partly his determination to play and partly our judgment, probably was the wrong call.

“I don’t think he made it particularly worse on the day but we got to the point where he’s been carrying it for a while but since then he’s had a scan and he’s had an injection and he feels a lot better.

“He’s a character and he’s well respected on and off the pitch by all the lads so it’s good to see him out on the training pitch running today.”