[themaclad]

Millwall
The New Den 28/9/2024 15.00 hrs

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

MANAGER



Millwall
Before taking over as permanent manager in the summer of 2015, Harris had several stints as caretaker manager.

First, he became caretaker manager, along with Scott Fitzgerald, taking over from the sacked Steve Lomas, on 26 December 2013, in which time they played 3 games, drawing one and losing twice, including a 4–1 away loss to Southend United in the FA Cup.The couple were then replaced by Ian Holloway on 7 January 2014.

Harris then again took over as caretaker boss on 10 March 2015, when Holloway was sacked.By the time Harris took over, Millwall were already virtually, whilst not mathematically, relegated, however Harris went on to win 2 and draw 4 of his 9 games in charge, almost keeping the Lions in the Championship. On 28 April, the Lions were officially relegated to League One following Rotherham United's 2–1 win against Reading, however, Harris was confirmed as Millwall's permanent manager less than 24 hours later, with his assistant being his 2004 FA Cup final teammate, David Livermore.

In his first full season as manager Harris led Millwall to the League One play-off final against Barnsley at Wembley after finishing 4th in the League One table and overcoming Bradford City 4–2 on aggregate in the play-off semi-finals. The Lions lost the play-off final 3–1 to Barnsley.

In 2016–17 season Harris again led Millwall to Wembley after they finished 6th in the League One table and overcame Scunthorpe United 3–2 in the play-off semi-finals. Millwall won the play-off final against Bradford City 1–0 to win promotion to the Championship. He also led Millwall to the FA Cup quarter-finals after knocking out three Premier League teams Bournemouth, Watford and Premier League Champions Leicester City before losing 6–0 against Tottenham Hotspur in the quarter-finals.

On 3 October 2019, Harris resigned as manager of Millwall.

Cardiff City
On 16 November 2019, Harris was appointed manager of Championship side Cardiff City. In his first season, he finished 5th in the league taking Cardiff to the play-off semi-finals against Fulham.

On 21 January 2021, Harris was sacked from Cardiff City. The Bluebirds had initially only won three of their opening 13 fixtures of the season, inviting pressure on Harris. Despite later securing a 4-match winning streak, a run 6 straight defeats afterwards sealed his fate as manager.

Gillingham
On 31 January 2022, Harris was appointed as manager of League One side Gillingham, signing a two-and-a-half-year deal with the Kent side. His first season ended in relegation to League Two. After receiving a red card in the penultimate game of the 2021–22 season against Portsmouth, Harris was given a touchline ban that would see him miss the first match of the club's first League Two season in ten years as well as receiving a £1,000 fine.

In the 2022–23 season Harris steered Gillingham to the fourth round of the EFL Cup for only the third time in the club's history. The Gills defeated Premier League side Brentford on penalties in the third round, before succumbing to another top tier side in Wolverhampton Wanderers 2–0 in the following round. He was dismissed from the role in October 2023.[35]

Cambridge United
On 6 December 2023, Harris was appointed head coach of League One club Cambridge United on an 18-month contract.

Millwall (second spell)
On 21 February 2024, Harris returned to Millwall as head coach on an 18-month contract. The Lions were then 21st in the Championship, one point above the relegation zone. Under Harris' stewardship, the club recorded 26 points from 13 games to finish 13th in the table, concluding the season with a 1-0 away victory at Swansea City, which formed part of a five-game winning streak.

Seem to remember we nearly signsed him

LAST TIME OUT





MACS MYSTIC FORM GUIDE

LIONS 7 PNE 6

NEWBIES



IN FORM



A BIT OF PREVIOUS





An oddity this one it was played 17 days after the season had officially ended and if memory serves me right our non scoring midfielder Graham Bell got both


OTHER GAMES



CULTURE

Bermondsey Abbey was an English Benedictine monastery. Although generally regarded as having been founded in the 11th century, it had a precursor mentioned in the early 8th century. It was centred on what is now Bermondsey Square, the site of Bermondsey Market, Bermondsey, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast London, England.



An area blighted by virtually every building in tye area being spray tagged, probably has seen better days, horror of a journey usually takes three hours to crawl about 2 miles to and from the ground.
Alarm set for 5am the utter joy of that
As usual a tough ground to play at but a boon for train spotters

[themaclad]

The Fitness Test

Manager Paul Heckingbottom said that PNE have been “looking after something” with Stefán Thórdarson, however he’s not expected to miss this fixture.

One man who won’t be available, though, is Sam Greenwood, following his red card against Blackburn Rovers on Sunday.

Will Keane, who missed the draw against Middlesbrough and victory over Fulham, returned to the matchday squad at the weekend and will again be part of the team travelling to the Den.

The Lions

Millwall have matched PNE’s start to the season, picking up five points from the first six matches of the campaign.

Having gone through three managers last term, the Lions will be hoping for more stability this season under club legend Neil Harris, who was appointed boss for the second time in February 2024 and comfortably kept them in the second tier.

In Duncan Watmore, Millwall have the division’s second-highest goalscorer, with the forward having netted five times already this season.

The Officials

Referee: Darren Bond
Assistant Referees: Derek Eaton and Steven Meredith
Fourth Official: Charles Breakspear

Darren Bond will referee Saturday’s clash, which will be his first PNE match since February 2023 when the Lilywhites lost at Turf Moor.

Before that, though, came good victories on the road with Bond in the middle, including wins over Hull City, Nottingham Forest and Derby County.

The referee has taken charge of three matches so far this season, including two Premier League ties, and he’s shown 12 yellow cards in those games.

[themaclad]

Paul Heckingbottom wants his side to stand up to what he knows Millwall will look to throw at them this weekend.

North End head to the capital on Saturday to take on the Lions, who comfortably avoided the threat of relegation last season following the appointment of Neil Harris, who led them to 26 points from their final 13 matches.

There’s many similarities on paper between the way they and PNE have started the season. Both have taken five points from the opening six matches and head into the weekend on the back of a derby day draw – theirs coming against Queens Park Rangers.


Hecky said: “It’s always tough down there. Neil really picked up some results when he went back in at the end of last season and, although results have been mixed at the start of this, the style of play is still exactly the same.

“They’re going to try and put it on us. They’re going to try and play direct. They’re going to put balls in our box. They’re going to try and make forward runs. They’re not scared to have attempts on goal. You have to make sure that doesn’t catch you out. You have to be prepared for that.

“There’ll be no surprises to us in terms of what they’re going to do and how they’re going to try and get the win. Me saying it and coping with it is one thing and then another.

“It’s making sure we can deliver on the pitch and stand up to that because there’s lots of people who have gone down to Millwall knowing exactly what they’re going to face and have come away with nothing, and we want to make sure that’s not us.”

There are no fresh injury concerns for the manager to worry about heading down to London, however they’ve been looking after a slight issue with midfielder Stefán Thórdarson, which isn’t expected to rule him out of the weekend.


One man who will miss out, though, is Sam Greenwood following his sending off against Blackburn Rovers, which offers a chance for somebody else to take his place.

Hecky said: “That’s how we’ve been working in the games anyway because we’ve been pleased with the response of players whether it’s been on the training ground, how they’ve performed on the pitch, or when they’ve come off the bench.

“It’s another opportunity for someone else which is great. No matter who it is, no matter who we’re missing, I always think it’s a positive thing for someone to get an opportunity.”

In the aforementioned derby against Rovers last weekend, Mads Frøkjær made his 50th appearance for North End since his arrival in 2023.

The gaffer’s been impressed by what he’s seen of his creative No.10 so far, but he feels there may be much more to come.

Hecky said: “100% I want to see more from Mads. I really like him; I like his personality. I want to push him. He’s one of the ones that needs pushing, and we need to demand more from him but be really clear in what that is because he’s got big qualities.

“I’ve been really pleased with his work off the ball in the last couple of games. He played a huge role in that penalty shootout win over Fulham in terms of his role off the ball and his understanding because that’s what the game was.

“He was probably involved in most of our best moments at the weekend when we had 11 and I’ll always want more from him because I think he’s capable of more. I’m probably on his case at the minute, but I think he understands why.”

[themaclad]

Millwall 3 Honeyman, Esse, Langstaff Preston North End 1 Storey

Millwall line-up: Jensen; Leonard (McNamara, 76), Tanganga, Cooper, Bryan; De Norre, Saville; Esse (Emakhu, 76), Honeyman (Wallace, 90), Watmore (Wintle, 67); Langstaff (Ivanović, 67). Subs not used: Roberts, Hutchinson, Kelly, Harding.

PNE line-up: Woodman; Potts (Kesler-Hayden, 58), Storey, Lindsay, Hughes (Brady, 45); Bowler (Frøkjær, 68), McCann, Whiteman, Holmes; Riis (Thórdarson, 45), Keane (Osmajić, 68). Subs not used: Cornell, Whatmough, Ledson, Okkels.

Attendance: 13,674 (786 PNE fans).

Referee: Mr D Bond.

5am start a trip through London's tourist area to and from the game, seven hour journey home, M40 blocked and roadworks at Birmingham meant finally collapsed into bed at 1 am. Not doing that again for four weeks(Plymouth)
The first 50 minutes were poor, our substitutes made a difference but three down at the time the game had already gone.
Tremendously both sides played in predominantly blue kits theirs was dark ours was light although it didn't stop us passing to them on many occasions.
We had already been given a warning when De Norre tremendous volley struck the bar, they had come close several times but we put in some great defensive work until we went one down to a simple free kick routine. Bryan free kick from the left finds the head of the massive Jake Cooper heads it to just wide of the back post ball recycled into six yard box, Honeyman slides in and it's 1 down



We have a bit of pressure but they break away at pace our non Usain Bolt defence nowhere to be seen ball to youngster Esse left hand side about 10 yards out, Woodman goes and then stops Esse rolls it past him and it's two, the mountain to climb has just become Everest sized.
They trudge off to disapproving boos from the away end.
A couple of substitutions shoud have pulled one back almost immediately but Bowler lost the ball in the sun and his tame effort dribbles into the side netting.
Within a minute it's three, Potts who had a shocker easily beaten to the ball and off they scamper down the left hand side, ball into six yard box and Langstaff scores
Damage limitations for the rest of the game although the substitutions we made did make a difference, the big Icelander Thor has a shot on him and wants the ball all the time, Brady has a wand of a left foot pity he's got a club on his right. Mads is a one off and looked dangerous on the wing. KKH is probably going to get a run at right back/Wing back and the Fang up front should probably have scored but was denied by a great save by Jensen.



The home side tried to help us a pair of defenders combined to head the ball against their own bar, fromthe resulting corner the home side didn't clear the ball and Storey buried it from 12 yards.
Osmajic hit the bar with a header offside though. There was still time for Emakhu to stick one on Brady and received a red for his effort.
No complaints about the result suspect the manager will have learned a lot about that performance.

Back through central London on the way home, M40 blocked at Banbury, nature tour through central Northamptonshire, road works at Brum, just shy of 6.5 hours on the road

Wonderful

Hecky thumped

Paul Heckingbottom said the nature of the goals his Preston North End side conceded on the road against Millwall cost his team.

PNE fell to a 3-1 defeat at The Den, with the hosts netting twice in the first half, before making it three in the very early stages of the second.

Jordan Storey did get North End on the scoresheet in the 87th minute, but that wasn’t to influence the outcome of the game.


Hecky said: “The first half and the nature of the goals really cost us. I thought we had a warning shot when they hit the bar.

“They played pretty direct, but they won the first ball and the second ball, and there’s too much of that in the first half.

“Millwall just imposed their style of play on to us. The nature of the goals are really poor. We spoke a lot about their set plays and where the danger was, and we switch off and we concede from one.

“That was a pattern. We were really slow to set up on set plays. Then the second goal comes from a counter attack from our set play where we’re really strong behind the ball. The nature of the goals are terrible.

“We started the second half after making changes on the front foot. We create a really good chance and then 30 seconds later concede another really soft goal so you’re going to have no chance conceding goals like that.

“Regardless of the way we stuck at it and the performance in the second half, the game’s gone. We wanted to come here and be resolute and strong, and we weren’t to start with. That’s the disappointing thing. That’s the bit I can’t accept. That’s the reason we lost the game.”

The defeat at The Den is the second time PNE have tasted defeat under the new manager, who has been encouraged by the three performances within the previous week.

That loss came against Oxford United which saw the team start really brightly, before falling away and losing 3-1.

Hecky said: “You have to make sure you deal with games like this in the right way. I thought Oxford was a really strange game. How we started the game was really strong and from nowhere we found ourselves 2-0 down, whereas this one, no.

“I would have loved to have had a timeout after 20 minutes and dealt with it then. Sometimes you do feel helpless on the side and if you have to make subs after 20 minutes, you have to.

“As long as we’re discussing this and the boys understand that, we had to inject some tempo into the game somehow and some energy. I think their first goal did that and we seemed to respond pretty well, then we concede a really poor second goal which lifts their crowd and makes it difficult.”

Before the trip to the capital, the Lilywhites had earned a battling point against Middlesbrough, sealed progression to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup against Premier League opposition, and then took a point with ten men against Blackburn Rovers.

It was back down to Earth in Millwall, though, with the hosts coming out victors far more comfortably than the manager would like.

He said: “It's always about results. We’re trying to build and get messages across to help us get results more often.

“We have to make sure this is a valuable lesson without a doubt because we’ve been pleased with what we’ve seen so far.

“We wanted to turn those performances into three points rather than one point. Today’s a reminder that if you’re not at it especially in this league, 100% if you’re away from home, that you’re going to come unstuck.”

Millwall manager Neil Harris told BBC Radio London:

"Overall I'm delighted, we've been so good this season.

"It's really pleasing to stand here after the result and I'm delighted with the way we played - we dominated the first half.

"We could have handled the final 10-ish minutes better, which ultimately ended up with the red card and goal conceded, but I'm really happy."