Alex Grace’s takeaways as Millwall secure Championship safety with win at Sunderland
Duncan Watmore scored his second goal in as many games to seal a priceless 1-0 win for Millwall away at Sunderland on Saturday afternoon. The Lions secured victory with their only shot on target in Wearside, with Watmore tucking home Ryan Longman’s cross in the 71st minute.
The victory ensures Millwall’s Championship safety with two games of the season to go.
Here are Alex Grace’s takeaways from a defining afternoon in the North East:
SAFETY ASSURED
It is done. The job has been completed and Millwall have ensured they will be a Championship club for an eighth season in a row. In the end, it has been rather comfortable for the Lions staying up with two games to spare. If you think back to February, after the 2-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, when things were looking very grim indeed, it is a huge achievement by Neil Harris and his team to assure safety with games still to play.
The head coach himself said in his post-match press conference that he could not have foreseen being in this situation with games to spare. It’s 20 points from a possible 33 for Harris since he returned to SE16. He came in with two aims: the first was to galvanise the football club and the fan base, to bring the fans and the players back together, and that has been achieved. His second aim was to get the team to safety and he has achieved that too.
Those short-term aims have been ticked off, and we can all now look to the future. A future that hopefully consists of not being in a battle at the wrong end of the table next season.
WATMORE STRIKES AGAIN
Duncan Watmore has not had the easiest of careers wherever he has been. At Sunderland, he suffered two serious knee injuries, which each cost him a year of football. A move to Middlesbrough also proved to be a difficult spell for him.
He is now 30 years old and is now finding his feet at Millwall. Injuries have once again been a big problem for him in his time at The Den. He has received criticism from the fan base at times for different reasons, but he is now showing why Gary Rowett brought him to the club. The goal on Saturday was his fourth of the campaign in the league and his second in as many games.
He has never been a prolific goalscorer but is someone that can play across the front line, making him a valuable asset to this Millwall team who have only managed to score 43 goals in the league this season. To put that into perspective, only relegated Rotherham, QPR and Sheffield Wednesday have scored less than the Lions this term. Watmore’s goals have earned the team five points this season. He may not score many, but he scores important goals.
LANDMARK FOR SARKIC
Matija Sarkic has had a mixed first season at Millwall. He missed 12 games with a muscle injury earlier in the season but has come back well from that. For a first season at the club, he has settled in well and firmly established himself as the number one choice ahead of Bart Bialkokwsi, who is out of contract in the summer.
It’s now ten clean sheets for Sarkic, four of those have come since Harris took over and the Lions switched to a back four, a system that has seen them look a lot more solid and harder to break down.
Life as a goalkeeper can be tricky, Sarkic has seen that at times this season with mistakes at Cardiff and Leicester just after injury proving costly but, as the season has gone on his confidence has grown and he has become a rather reliable pair of hands in the Millwall goal. There have been some important saves that must be noted as well. Still only 26 years old, there is plenty of time for him to continue to improve.
Going forward, the Lions can be confident about their man between the sticks.
DANNY MCNAMARA CONTINUING TO SHOW HIS VERSATILITY
Danny McNamara is another player who, like Ryan Leonard, is showing how important being versatile is in this Millwall team. He has played in four different positions this season for the club. Right back, right wing-back, centre-back and now left back. The latter has been more of an enforced option in recent weeks due to the injuries to Joe Bryan and Murray Wallace.
However, his performances at left back have been so solid that even with Bryan back fit again, Harris has continued to stick with the 25-year-old in that position – starting the last four games.
Leonard has nailed down the right back spot for Harris, starting all 11 games of Harris’ reign in that position. It will be interesting to see what the head coach’s plans are for those two players in particular going forward as both have proved how important they can be in multiple roles for the team.
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