Zian Flemming savours Millwall hat-trick as perfect sign off for Championship break

Millwall’s Zian Flemming felt his hat-trick was the perfect way to head into the Championship’s mini-shutdown.

The Lions are not back in action until December 3 at Sunderland as England’s second tier has a break to coincide with the World Cup in Qatar.

It was Flemming’s first league treble of his career and moved the club record signing from Fortuna Sittard on to eight goals for the campaign.

“A hat-trick and a win, especially before the break, it’s nice to help myself and the team go into that with a nice feeling,” Flemming told Millwall TV.

“The ball came slightly behind me [for the first goal] and I first thought about screening the ball and setting it for Savs, or someone else, who came around. But because Savs made that run it opened up a bit of space – I used the other defender who came to get that yard and get my shot off.

“I just wanted to shoot it [his free-kick for the second goal] very hard in the corner of the goal, a little bit on the left-hand side – because it was so close. If I got a strong shot out the keeper was always going to be in trouble. There was a little deflection and the keeper had no chance.

“It [the third goal] was finally at the good end of the stadium. I almost forgot to celebrate with them [the Millwall fans]. First I ran off to the left and then I was like ‘oh no, they’re on the other side’. I felt like that goal really gave us the feeling we had the game in our hands again and really won’t give it away any more, like we did in the first half.”

Flemming is only five goals behind the total that Benik Afobe achieved to top the club’s scoring charts last season.

And the Dutch attacker has another 26 Championship matches – plus at least one FA Cup tie – to add to his haul.

“I always work to the next one,” said Flemming about his goal target. “It sounds a bit boring. But going into this game I just wanted to get the sixth. You get the sixth and then you want to get the seventh. At half-time I really said to myself: ‘Okay, you’ve got two goals but it is 2-2 and it’s not enough’. At half-time I really tried to tell myself: ‘Act like you didn’t score yet, because we need more goals. Don’t be satisfied because there might be a hat-trick there’. This time it happened.

“I tried to do it against Middlesbrough and it didn’t happen, so it’s not as easy as I say it is.”

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