WEBMASTERS
REPORT: MILLWALL 2 - 0 BRIGHTON, 11/12/04
We
have this report from the game:
We travelled up to South East London with two
Millwall supporting friends of ours who introduced us the haute cuisine of
Double Pie, Double Mash, Liquor and Chilli Vinegar and then for a couple of
pints in the Barnaby which is the Millwall pub nearest their end of the New
Den. The food was unspectacular and the pub, although packed, was rather
quiet. No singing, no threatening looking guys, just your run of the mill busy
football pub. Only when the barmaid tried to short change me was I concerned
about anything.
A brisk walk to the ground with the expectancy
of at least a draw was next and the travelling support filled most of the
upper tier of the North Stand. The Albion fans were in good voice despite the
usual volley of homophobic abuse coming at us from the home fans to the left.
I particularly enjoyed their YMCA dance routines and the limp wristed waving
but they've only got one song as we often reminded them. Apparently there
was a lot of singing from the other end behind their goal but we couldn't hear
them above the racket we were making.
The match kicked off with us playing 3-5-2 with
Leon dropped to the bench despite his fine match last week. We rarely looked
in trouble and made a couple of chances, once when Virgo lobbed over the bar
and another where the ball hit the bar and came down in front if the line.
Millwall's front three of Dobie, Dichio and Hayles were running at us but not
creating much. Unfortunately, we were caught out by a through ball to Dobie
who caught Dan Harding asleep and went through to finish with style past
Kuipers. Mayo was quickly sent out to warm up, probably to let Harding know
that he'd be off if he didn't get his act together, but Kerry was soon warming
the bench once again. We thought the flood gates may open after the goal but
we kept on playing the way we were and went in at half time 1-0 down but not
too dispirited.
The second half started with Leon soon coming on
as a substitute after which we changed to a 3-4-3 formation and had our
best period of the match. For once we got some crosses in, made their
defenders panic and had a number of scrambles in front of their goal but we
couldn't make a clear opening. Dennis Wise could obviously see that we were
getting on top and we'd had our best 20 minutes for a while so he brought
himself on as sub to calm things down a bit. He didn't do much more than play
a few simple balls to his own men but it changed the tempo of the game and our
best period had passed. He'd also brought Paul Ifill on earlier and it was
him, who was born in Brighton, who scored the decisive goal. he turned Harding
inside and out, got free and curled a great shot around Kuipers into the top
corner. We changed formation again to 4-3-3 after Paul Watson made a welcome
return to the first team, but we'd lost our momentum and didn't look like
getting back into the game until Leon won a penalty right near the end. He
took it himself with his customary stop start run up but their keeper guessed
right and made a good save at the base of the post. Leon just hasn't quite got
his confidence right and although it wasn't a bad penalty you just had a
feeling that he might not convert it.
Despite there being a long stoppage for an
injury during the second half, the ref only added three minutes injury time,
most of which was taken up by a free kick saga to us which involved on of
their guys getting booked, the ball being advanced to the edge of the area
but, once again, it came to nothing.
To sum up, it was a good performance, probably
worth a draw to be honest but the Millwall fans thought that the ref was
totally on our side (we thought the opposite) and that they deserved their win
(we disagreed, of course). We lost to two good goals, both of which Harding
may have done better to prevent, but we can take heart that everyone else
below us lost as well, except for Rotherham but they're as good as down
already aren't they?
Player
Ratings:
Kuipers 7 - no chance with the goals
Reid 7 - unluckly to be subbed
Hinshelwood - 7 ditto
Butters - 7 - solid in defence
Cullip - 7 - usual performance from Danny
Harding - 4 - needs a rest from first team
action
Nicolas - 5 - doesn't look fit and came off
Carpenter - 6 - tried hard
Oatway - 6 - Millwall thought he was a thug(!)
Claridge - 5 - ineffective on his return to the
New Den
Virgo - 6 - put himself about
Knight - 7 - made a big difference
Hammond - 6 - tried to make a difference
Watson - 6 - did nothing wrong
Managers
Reactions (Brighton):
"We've had a lot of games like that where
we have ended up losing.
"We are not a bad little team but we are
struggling to score goals.
"We have won seven games this season, and
I think they have all been by 1-0. But today they got the first goal."
Managers
Reactions (Millwall):
It was a good performance by the boys. It's
always difficult against Brighton with the way they play.
"They play five across midfield, and we
needed the first goal. It was a good goal, and I'm very happy for Scott Dobie to
get his first goal in front of our punters.
"It was a lovely ball from Alan Dunne and
a great finish from Scott - that's why I brought him here."
