Gillingham (0) 1 Akinfenwa 76
Millwall (3) 3 Morison 7, 19 Keogh 28
Att. Est. 2,000
Entrance: £15
Programme: £1.00
Mileage: 45/273
Match Report
3 o'clock kick off against Folkestone Invicta.
Unfortunately, the afternoon also brought the first setbacks of pre-season with both clubs beaten quite convincingly by opponents of higher standing.
Millwall enter the new season with a new manager in place for the first time since 2007 following the departure of Kenny Jackett. In his place comes Steve Lomas, who enjoyed, but nobody else did, an unproductive spell at Gillingham at the tail end of his career. If his work ethic as a manager at the Den is anything like that of a player at Priestfield then Millwall are in for a tough time. I cannot recall a player so obviously collecting one last pay day than that of Lomas.
That gripe out of the way, in actual fact if Millwall's performance at Gillingham is anything to go by, then their fans should be viewing the prospect of a very enjoyable season to come. For half-an-hour the visitors clearly portrayed the difference between the Championship and the divisions below. They literally passed their way through the Gillingham rearguard, opening up their opponents with ease.
Working where I do, deep in the heart of Millwall-land, I know a few Lions fans and Lomas' West Ham connection caused some initial consternation, but the loan of fans' favourite Steve Morison from Leeds United has bought him some goodwill and two goals in the opening 20 minutes from the striker helps the cause even at this fledgling stage of pre-season.
Morison drove a seventh minute volley past Stuart Nelson after the ball broke kindly to him and in the 19th minute from the edge of area he smacked home a low drive. Morison turned provider after 28 minutes when his left wing cross to the far post was headed home by Andy Keogh, with the home side now in somewhat disarray.
Josh Wright and Jimi Abdou had ruled the roost in midfield for the Lions and when the former was withdrawn at half-time, much to his annoyance it appeared, then the visitors were not quite so dominant in the second period. Millwall made a host of changes just after the hour which further affected their flow and Gillingham followed suit after 75 minutes when they made six change of their own, one of which, Adebayo Akinfenwa, found the net within a minute of his introduction, the big man converting a Joe Martin cross with a far post header.
Gillingham pressed to further reduce the deficit, but with a couple of minutes to go, it was time to take my leave and head for Tunbridge Wells . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment