[themaclad]

Millwall v Preston North End
The New Den 15/4/2023 KO 3.00PM

LAST TIME OUT



FORM GUIDE

MILLWALL 8 PNE 16

MANAGER

Gary Rowett (born 6 March 1974) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is currently manager of Championship club Millwall.

As a player, he was a defender, and played in the Premier League for Everton, Derby County, Leicester City and Charlton Athletic. He also played in the Football League for Cambridge United, Blackpool, Birmingham City and Burton Albion. His professional career ended in 2004, through a knee injury.

In May 2009, he was appointed assistant manager to Paul Peschisolido at Burton, and took over as manager in 2012. He was appointed the manager of Birmingham City in October 2014 and served until December 2016. He became Derby County manager in March 2017, and joined Stoke City in May 2018. After failing to mount a promotion challenge, he was sacked in January 2019 and was appointed manager of Millwall that October.

More than decent manager is this fella

https://www.millwallfc.co.uk/

https://millwallonline.com/forum/threads...380/page-2



Bermondsey Boy

Sir Thomas Hicks OBE (born 17 December 1936), known professionally as Tommy Steele, is an English entertainer, regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star.[1][2]

After being discovered at the 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho, London, Steele recorded a string of hit singles including "Rock with the Caveman" (1956) and the chart-topper "Singing the Blues" (1957). Steele's rise to fame was dramatised in The Tommy Steele Story (1957), the soundtrack of which was the first British album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. With collaborators Lionel Bart and Mike Pratt, Steele received the 1958 Ivor Novello Award for Most Outstanding Song of the Year for "A Handful of Songs". He starred in further musical films including The Duke Wore Jeans (1958) and Tommy the Toreador (1959), the latter spawning the hit "Little White Bull".

Steele shifted away from rock and roll in the 1960s, becoming an all-round entertainer. He originated the part of Kipps in Half a Sixpence in the West End and on Broadway, reprising his role in the 1967 film version. As an actor, he notably appeared in the films The Happiest Millionaire (1967) and Finian's Rainbow (1968) and as the lead in several West End productions of Singin' in the Rain. Also an author and sculptor, Steele remains active. He was knighted in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to entertainment and charity and was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in 2021.



In The Dressing Room

Ali McCann will return to training with the squad on Thursday, although he will be unavailable for the weekend's game.

Skipper Alan Browne, who was substituted due to injury in the Good Friday victory over Queens Park Rangers, will be missing for the next two to four weeks, according to manager Ryan Lowe.

Ched Evans, Emil Riis and Greg Cunningham remain sidelined with long-term injuries.

A Look At Our Hosts

Sat fifth in the table and level on points with PNE – but with a superior goal difference – Millwall will be looking to keep hold of their Play-Off spot this weekend.

Gary Rowett’s side have spent the majority of their season in and around the top six, and they’ll want to get back on track on Saturday, having gone four without a win or scoring.

In their most recent outing – a defeat to Hull City – the manager described his side’s performance as “excellent”, but was left ruing missed opportunities.

Going Head To Head


Games played: 71
PNE wins: 25
Draws: 13
Millwall wins: 33
Last PNE victory: Millwall 1-3 PNE, 23rd February 2019

One To Watch


A man who PNE know all too well from this season’s reverse fixture, Zian Flemming has been Millwall’s main man up top this campaign.

The powerful Dutch attacker, who signed from Fortuna Sittard in the summer, has had a fantastic first season in England, with arguably his best outing being a hat-trick performance at Deepdale in November 2022.

Flemming hasn’t managed to add to his goal tally since the beginning of March, but 13 in his first campaign in England is certainly an impressive return – especially considering he mainly operates behind the striker.

Match Officials

Preston North End will be refereed by Tim Robinson for the first time this season on Saturday afternoon.

Robinson, who has taken charge of two Premier League matches this campaign, was the main official for PNE on four occasions last season.

In total this season, Robinson has shown 139 yellow cards and six reds in 36 matches.

Second trip to the smoke in a week, again not going, six pointer Millwall two places above us on goal difference although have hit a bit of a blank at the moment, over achieving like us.
Would be satisfied with a point but the confidence they are playing with at the moment you never know.

[themaclad]

Millwall 2 Bradshaw Flemming Preston North End 0

Gary Rowett has never lost to PNE as a manager

Millwall starting XI: Long; McNamara, Hutchinson, Cooper, Wallace (Malone, 7); Mitchell, Saville; Burke (Esse, 70), Flemming (Shackleton, 85), Voglsammer (Watmore, 70); Bradshaw (Bennett, 85). Subs not used: Bialkowski, Evans.

PNE starting XI: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay (Diaby, 68), Hughes; Potts, Whiteman (Ledson, 68), Onomah (Woodburn, 83), Johnson, Brady (Fernández, 68); Cannon, Parrott (Delap, 68). Subs not used: Cornell, Bauer.

Attendance: 16,488 (1,173 PNE fans).

Referee: Mr T Robinson.

Preston North End’s winning run came to an end at The Den as a goal in both halves for Millwall earned a 2-0 victory for the hosts.

Bradshaw flicked Zian Flemming’s cross into the far corner to break the deadlock early on, before North End came close themselves on a number of occasions in the first half through the likes of Andrew Hughes and Josh Onomah.

PNE were arguably the side on top and kept searching for an equaliser, but Flemming scored at the other end in the 72nd minute to seal the win.

Ryan Lowe made one change from the Easter Monday victory over Reading, with Robbie Brady replacing Álvaro Fernández, while Liam Delap returned from illness to make the bench.

North End almost got off to a flying start when Onomah flicked the ball into the direction of former Millwall loanee Troy Parrott, but he fired his first-time effort over the bar.

The hosts then took the lead with their first effort of the afternoon, as Flemming whipped a dangerous cross onto the head of Bradshaw, who flicked on into the far corner.

At the other end, Onomah showed good feet to beat his man and unleash a powerful effort at goal, which was well kept out by George Long, and a defender then threw his body in the way of Tom Cannon’s follow-up.

PNE came close again just before the half-hour mark when Ben Whiteman and Daniel Johnson played a smart one-two from a corner, and the former whipped a vicious effort towards the far corner, where Billy Mitchell managed to make a crucial block.

Just a few minutes later, Andrew Hughes tested the goal with a low strike and the ‘keeper stuck out his left leg to prevent an equaliser.

Seven minutes into the second half, PNE worked the ball well down the left as Brady used the overlapping run of Hughes, who pulled it back for Johnson on the 12-yard spot, but the midfielder just didn’t quite make the required contact.

North End continued to be the side on top and, after a quadruple change, created what looked like a great opportunity, however the ball was just taken off the toe of Onomah before he could strike at goal.

On 72 minutes, though, the hosts scored with their second shot on target of the day, as Cooper’s knockdown header was pounced on by Flemming, who struck past Woodman.

With ten minutes left on the clock, Fernández did so well to keep the ball in on the byline and cut it back for Delap, whose close-range shot was remarkably blocked on the goal-line by Scott Malone.

That was about it as far as goalmouth action was concerned and the hosts came out 2-0 winners.

[themaclad]

Millwall boss Gary Rowett told BBC Radio London:

"It looked like a game where there was a little bit of pressure on it. You turn up feeling like it is a must-win with our recent four games and not getting what we deserved.

"We started quite well and scored a good goal. I thought that might settle us down but it actually probably made us a little bit edgier.

"The rest of the first half was probably the poorest we have moved the ball and we had to keep defending.

"It is a big boost for us as we didn't want to go another game without a win.

"It was really important we got Tom (Bradshaw) and Zian (Flemming) back on the goalscoring sheet. That was probably the biggest thing to come out of the game as well as a clean sheet and a win.

Preston manager Ryan Lowe:

"I'm disappointed in terms of the result. I thought the performance was good.

"I felt we played some fantastic stuff. If we get one, we probably get two.

"I'm disappointed with the two goals. We got undone by not dealing with two balls coming into the box and not being clinical enough in front of goal.

"It was that clinical edge in both boxes. They found two moments, and we didn't."

[themaclad]