George Saville’s ‘shinpad’ scoring goal was unexpected – Lions head coach on midfielder’s finish at Sheffield Wednesday

Joe Edwards joked he had not seen George Saville score many goals with his “shinpad” after the Millwall midfielder got on the scoresheet during their 4-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday afternoon.

The Northern Ireland international scored Millwall’s second goal of the afternoon and his second of the season with a fine strike from outside the box.

Saville was a product of Chelsea’s academy, with Edwards being part of the coaching set-up at the west London club for more than two decades.

“I’ve known Sav for a long time, since he was a young kid, “said Edwards. “I’ve not seen him score many with his shinpad from the edge of the box.

“The position he arrived in for that goal….any focus this week, or talk, with Sav before the game has not been about being more offensive or being higher up the pitch from an attacking point of view – but we are trying to be more aggressive when we are attacking.”

Certain aspects of Edwards’ style of play were evident at Hillsborough. Jake Cooper and Wes Harding pushed up and carried the ball from central defence into central midfield.

“If you look behind Sav, our central defenders are not that far behind him – so we’ve got nearly our whole team in the final third ,” said the new Lions head coach. “That’s something that’s going to be important about what we do because you get the moments like that – where the player produces the goods and Sav finds the net.

“But if it doesn’t then we’ve got our whole team to close in – to try and sustain that pressure. That’s what we want to be about.”