Match Report |
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Millwall 2 Swansea City 2 | |
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Millwall 2
– 2 Swansea -6th
November 2007 Match report – Clive AlabasterI had fortuitously arranged a business meeting in Orpington earlier in the day. However, by the time that wound up I still had the best part of 4 hours to hang around for the match – and there’s not a lot to see or do in and around Orpington and Bermondsey on a chilly November evening I can tell you. Swans lined up as follows: DeVries Or at least it appeared to be a 4-4-1-1 formation to me! The early exchanges were rather tame but finally Swansea started applying some pressure and the chances started coming and going. Swansea forced the first corner but then Millwall struck a low fierce shot which DeVries saved well, making a difficult job look easy. However, Swansea were enjoying the better possession and looked the more self assured. Half way through the first half Swansea got the reward their superiority deserved and took the lead following a fine bit of play. Millwall’s keeper sent a clearance kick down field only for Pratley to head it back from the centre circle. Anderson set off in chase of the ball like a whippet down the right hand channel getting ahead of his man in the process. Anderson closed in from the right and struck a low hard shot to the keeper’s right. The keeper did well to get down to it but merely set it up for the follow up. Scotland won the race to the follow up and smashed it in from all of 2 yards – he’s deadly from that range.
Within 2 minutes Millwall had a chance to equalise but it drew a great reaction save from DeVries. However, the Swans faithful were in good voice and spotted a rare opportunity to resurrect a few old favourites. The comic moment of the night came as 350 Swans struck up with "Jackett, sort it out, Jackett, Jackett, sort it out!". Swansea continued to dominate but were by no means having it all their own way. Chances fell to both teams in an end to end game. First a break from Britton had us standing up but we all sat back down again as Scotland just failed to take the cross in his stride. Then DeVries saved comfortably once again from a low shot. On 39 minutes Robinson was withdrawn following an injury to be replaced by O’Leary, which seemed a curious decision. Butler moved wide left leaving Scotland up front on his own and 5 across midfield. We lost a great deal of our attacking momentum after the loss of Robinson and subsequent re-shuffle. Britton was struggling to retain possession in the centre of midfield but offered some outlet in attack and O’leary just looked lost. Millwall worked their way back into the game and applied the pressure. There was a big shout for a handball inside the Swans area from the Millwall fans behind Dorus’ goal but I could see nothing which warranted it from my position at the opposite end of the pitch. DeVries then pulled off a picturesque save – expect to see the photos of that adorning the Evening Post report. HALF TIME: 0 – 1 The second half started very scrappily and the growing frustration of the home support was palpable. However, they were soon rewarded when Millwall equalised from a corner. There was a lot of movement in the box and when the corner was flighted over the Millwall forward was left with a completely free header inside the 6 yard box goal centre. He planted his header between Dorus’ legs and the modest home support came to life. You could blame any of our central defenders for that one. Millwall were now dominant and were buoyed on by the home support. Since so much is said of Lawrence, I’ll add my two-penny worth: I like him, he does a lot of good stuff. OK, perhaps we can do better but give him his due Lawrence won pretty much all the aerial stuff thrown his way and made some timely tackles but his distribution on the ground is often woeful. A change was clearly necessary at it duly arrived as Duffy replaced Britton. However, soon after, Millwall took the lead from a controversial penalty. Lawrence was adjudged to have handled the ball as he went to close down a cross from the right by the lino. This seemed harsh (I’m not even sure I saw hand contact) as he could reasonably claim ball-to-hand with his hands close to his torso. And didn’t he make his thoughts known to the officials. The penalty was finally dispatched strongly into the top left hand corner. However, the earlier substitution had added much needed bite to the Swansea attack and Swansea’s equalising goal wasn’t long in coming. Again, there was some very neat passing in the build up which resulted in Scotland playing in a low cross which the Millwall defender deflected into Anderson’s path and he made no mistake with a firm strike. The game was not over by any means and some exciting end to end play ensued. Both sides were really going for the winner. Butler continued his shoot-on-sight policy but eventually gave way to Orlandi, Pratley volleyed over, Austin picked up a yellow card but otherwise had a solid game and Anderson and Orlandi took turns to play on opposite wings. Rangel gave away possession and the Millwall forward fired in a low hard shot which DeVries deflected with his legs. I honestly don’t think he knew much about it but he attended to the first priority to get something behind it, anything. He was lucky to see the deflection bounce just wide of the goal when it could so easily have gone in. Deep into injury time Millwall missed a golden opportunity to take all three points. A good cross was floated over the Swans goal and the Millwall player at the far posted put a completely free header just wide. At the final whistle I felt frustrated we hadn’t quite forced the winner but relieved we hadn’t conceded a winner. A 4-5-1 formation just isn’t Swansea City. We were second best during the period just before and after half-time when we adopted this formation and this was perhaps responsible for us dropping points tonight. Attack really is the best form of defence! However, a point apiece was enough to see us climb one position and remain 3 points off the leaders (with a game in hand) but not enough for Millwall to climb out of the relegation zone. Kenny Jackett will indeed have some sorting out to do. FULL TIME: 2 - 2 Match Comments - Jim White A very average performance this evening. We started brightly but the departure of Robbo seemed to hamper us moving forward and I and many others were surprised to see KOL come on instead. KOL lost his man for their first goal and some defensive uncertainty resulted in a handball which the linesman gave. It looked dodgy but we have got away with a similar hand ball in the first half and so it evened itself out. The 2nd goal was another good finish by Anderson who had a good evening again with a goal and another assist. We missed the composure of Bodde in midfield and I was surprised to see Leon taken off. I am not going to slag players off because were 4th in the league and can go top with a victory on our game in hand. However, the same problems were evident tonight and it is something that needs looking at. However as fans, we get some things right, we get some things wrong. Same as managers but i am happy to let Senor Martinez pick what he believes is the right team to win us games. MOM tonight? Once again I thought Pratley worked very hard and was instrumental in setting up a lot of our better moves. De Vries made a crucial save in the first half and Anderson was once again full of running. Going to a place like Millwall is never easy and so a point is a good result when we werent at our best. As for Millwall then there was not a lot there for them but they did have a number of injured players out. Their new manager is going to have his work cut out to move them up the table. I wish him all the best. Obviously the board at Millwall think he is the right man for the job! A good turnout tonight (675) from the jacks who outsung the 15 year old chavs!!!
Time to forget the league for a weekend and focus on the magic of the cup! Match Report -Richard of Warwick If you were not at Millwall last evening then can I advise you treat the comments of the radio and paper journos with healthy scepticism. I understand they banged on that Austin had a poor game, was a liability etc etc. Not true. The commentators opinions were formed before the game based on fans concerns, and not by what they saw on the pitch. I understand they say Britton had a poor game. Not quite true. He had his moments in the period before Robbo went off and afterwards too. But his game was not unlike the one he had on Friday. Not the influence you would want but not a bad game. And he was inexplicably taken off just when the game was changing and he would start to get some space to work in. And they say that Duffy scored our second! They don't recognise our players obviously. Mind you, they had only watched 78 minutes of Anderson terrorising their defence and looking the class act on the pitch before then so its understandable I suppose As to the game then Jim's report is good. But in truth this was points dropped that were there for the taking. We started with a 4-4-1-1 formation with Butler behind Scotland and Robbo starting wide left. So not a defensive 4-5-1 but an interesting variant that relied on Butler making good decisions in that linking role. Butler played it well getting forward and getting back at the right times. Later when he switched to wide left it was easier to see that he was having a very good game, but our early positive play had a lot to do with his contribution. Millwall came out and had a go in the early stages but we looked by far the better team. I had no doubt at all that as the game wore on then we would get the reward we deserved. Anderson was a class apart and they could not handle his pace and directness. Its usual to describe wingers as going on mazy runs but this lad is different. More like a cheese wire as he cut straight through them time after time. The opening goal came after Anderson was given a half yard start on his full back near the half way line. There was never a doubt that he would outstrip him, and he did, bearing down on goal and getting a right foot shot away that the keeper parried. But his block just put the ball in front of goal in the six yard box and the following in Scotland held off the challenge and put it away. This was a deserved lead, although they did have moments, but the game changed with Robbo's injury. He took a knock which I did not see, received some treatment but then came off almost straight away. Then the moment that changed this game. The option was there to bring Orlandi on as a like for like replacement, to keep Butler in the floating role and to keep exerting the pressure that the early stages had seen. But much to my surprise, and the surprise of most around me, the Senor brought on KOL and moved Butler out wide. We now looked more 4-5-1 but surely we weren't shutting up shop were we? I know we were away, and I know it was Millwall and all that, but I thought our attacking credentials were more permanent than this. From then the game swung and they put us under increasing pressure as our attacking menace evaporated. Half time came comfortably enough but we did need to re-group. The talk at half time was of further substitutions and I was not alone in thinking that KOL should be sacrificed. Its a tough thing to do to any player, but sentiment is a luxury in football that can be costly. And so it proved. I love KOL and his commitment for the club and cause, but he was a square peg in a round hole last night. Without the instincts or the ball skills of Butler he was left floundering and Millwall's pressure just grew and grew. Their equaliser was a disaster for our defensive organisation. A regulation corner into the six yard box met unchallenged by their centre back who could not fail to score. KOL was left standing with hands on head which was a position he adopted with increasing regularity as the game wore on. He did learn though and shadowed his man at corners and free kicks after that, but the damage was done. And then we get a penalty awarded against us which at best was dubious. The ball was crossed from the right into a clutch of our defenders on the edge of our box. I don't think the ref gave anything but the lino immediately signalled a pen, presumably because he saw a hand ball. The players reaction then and later suggested it was Austin who had transgressed but I saw nothing, and my reaction was that he was outside the box anyway. The replay will tell I suppose. The big screen went conveniently blank at this time. Presumably to spare the officials embarrassment. Anyway, they put it away well enough and we now look like losing a game that should have been ours. The pitifully small crowd of Millwall faithful were, even then, drowned out by the good Swans following singing for a final big effort to get something back. And as the game stretched in the last quarter, just as we have seen so many times this times this season, we swop Orlandi for Britton, but do begin to get at them again. And our spirit did show through then as a good flowing move with too many runners for Millwall to handle paid dividends as the ball appeared in front of Anderson after good work by Scotland. He met it first time and passed it firmly into the net to win a hard earned point. But I still think that we need to ask ourselves some hard questions because this was two points dropped that we should have brought home. Oh yes...if you were not at Millwall last evening then can I advise you treat my comments with healthy scepticism too. This is just my recollection, with no notes, a few seriously expensive Carlsberg's, and a few polite comments aimed at the officials Millwall: Pidgeley, Dunne, Robinson, Shaw (Whitbread 33), Frampton,
Brkovic, Fuseini, Hodge, O'Hara, Alexander, Simpson. Goals: Whitbread 58, Dunne 70 pen. Swansea: De Vries, Rangel, Lawrence, Monk, Austin, Anderson, Britton
(Duffy 67), Pratley, Butler (Orlandi 83), Scotland, Robinson (O'Leary 33). Booked: Austin. Goals: Scotland 18, Anderson 78. Att: 6,750 Ref: Rob Shoebridge (Derbyshire).
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