We could have played all night and not scored and Millwall took their chance so we can’t really complain about the result.
BEFORE
The season is drawing to its close and we've definitely steadied the ship but of course I want us to collect maximum points in the final three games. Millwall aren't quite safe from relegation so we can expect a tough battle this afternoon, as we had in the away fixture in December. They also beat Leicester recently and that doesn’t happen often. I’m not sure if Watmore and Honeyman will be playing for them but I rather hope they won’t as it tends to bring out the best in our ex-players. I haven’t heard of any injury problems since last Saturday so I imagine our starting line-up will be very similar to then. I like the look of Pembele and I thought Styles played well against West Brom. I’ll be at the match and it’ll be my final home game for this season. I renewed my season ticket yesterday. Match prediction: 2-1 to us.
I got the team-news while having my usual pre-match slurp in Fitzy’s and there were two changes with Alese and Dack starting in place of Neil and Hume. Honeyman was starting for them. My mates’ match predictions were:- 3-1, 1-1 and 1-2. I was in my seat five minutes before kick-off and the crowd seemed bigger than of late.
THE GAME
Millwall did most of the early pressing and won a free-kick on their left in the second minute but we got it clear. Most of the play continued to be in our half but we won the first corner of the game in the eleventh minute. Sarkic in goal held a follow-up header and as the teams peeled away Clarke was yellow-carded, for impeding him apparently. We were doing more attacking and Rigg did well to battle into their box and get a shot on target. We won another corner in the seventeenth and O’Nien headed it on but Ballard headed over when he should really have done better. Shortly afterwards we conceded a corner and the ref Anthony Backhouse held it up by lecturing their giant number 5 Cooper among others before it could be taken. It eventually led to another corner on the other side that Patto managed to hold. A nifty bit of play involving Clarke soon led to another corner for us but Jobe headed it over - again he could have done a lot better.
Our fans were in good voice as we entered the second quarter but then Clarke got a good talking to from Mr Backhouse after a foul and it looked like he was on thin ice, somewhat harshly. Corners were coming at both ends and we won another just after the half-hour mark but it only resulted in a weak low shot from O’Nien went wide of the right post. The crowd had gone quiet apart from a lot of muttering, maybe because we were moving into our sideways-backwards attacking mode. In the forty-second Styles did well to wriggle into their box from the left and put a low cross in but nobody was there to get on the end of it. Obafemi was booked for a bad foul and that was about it till the whistle went after just a minute of added-time. It was looking like another 0-0…
As we kicked off again Hume had replaced Dack and I didn’t argue with that as I really like his tackling. A couple of minutes in, Hume had a decent shot from the right angle of their box and it wasn’t far over. In the fifty-fifth Millwall won a corner following a free-kick but the ref blew and the danger had passed. Some fans were getting frustrated and were shouting for a sub or two. We certainly didn’t look like scoring in a hurry. Both sets of fans started making a good racket as the hour-mark approached and I hoped that would enliven our team. A couple of minutes later Pembele was replaced by Ba and Rigg was subbed by Aouchiche. We promptly won three corners in a row on our left and another a couple of minutes later. Honeyman got a good ripple, and a few boos, as he was subbed and Watmore was one of the two the two players coming on.
Ba was looking lively and he made a few jinky runs down our right.
In the seventy-first Millwall took the lead after an attack down their right and of course it was Watmore who got it after connecting with a cross from Longman (or was it a Ballard OG?). We were getting the occasional shot on target but they were weak and were easily saved by Sarkic. The Millwall fans were making all the noise and I couldn’t see us scoring. With ten mutes on the clock Styles went off and was replaced by Evans, who got a good ripple, while Mundle came on for Alese. Some Millwall players were going down and staying down, arousing the wrath of our fans.
With around five minutes left there was a big rumpus in our half after a Millwall foul and it resulted in a yellow for Ballard, when he might have got a red. Seven minutes of added-time were announced and that got our fans going a bit but the bloke next to me said, “That’s cruel making us watch another seven minutes of this.” Jobe was booked, again rather harshly, and then Patto got himself flustered before the ball was cleared right near our line. We won a corner in the ninety-fourth that resulted in Patto connecting with it and knocking it out for a goal-kick. We were awarded a free-kick in a choice position just outside their box and Ekwah skied it. It ended 0-1 as the Milwall fans chanted, “We are staying up.”
