Daniel Marsh’s big match verdict: Millwall no longer looking a soft touch since Neil Harris made his return

BY DANIEL MARSH

Neil Harris was parachuted in to rescue Millwall again just over a fortnight ago. And it’s been a case of so far, so good for the Lions legend.

Even the most optimistic of Millwall fans would have struggled to envisage the beleaguered squad Harris inherited would go on to bank seven points from their next nine, but that’s the reality.

It’s now three games without defeat for Harris, who would have put significant distance between the Lions and the drop zone were it not for everyone else in the bottom half of the Championship suddenly rediscovering their mojo.

In many ways, Harris was the perfect appointment – Millwall were in freefall under Joe Edwards and had 13 cup finals to save their season.

In my time following Millwall, if I had to pick a manager to win any one-off game – especially at The Den – Harris would have been the undisputed pick.

The victories over Southampton and Watford weren’t pretty, nor was the 1-1 draw Millwall ground out on Tuesday night.

But the order of the day is substance rather than style and the majority recognise the need to park any other ambitions until the end of the season.

With that being said, Millwall will need to make better use of the ball if they are to keep picking up points. In fairness though, their inability to make things happen on Tuesday night wasn’t aided by the absence of an experienced number nine as both Ryan Longman and Aidomo Emakhu struggled to get into the game during the first-half.

The Lions were crying out for a more seasoned operator and, fittingly, Michael Obafemi had his best game in a Millwall shirt after coming on for Emakhu at the break.

He took his goal well and finally gave Blackburn’s defence something to think about after a carefree first-half. That should hopefully give him a boost, because he will be crucial to the Lions’ survival hopes.

If Millwall weren’t great, then the same can be said of their hosts, who are also in the thick of the relegation battle.

But in many ways, the goal Millwall gifted to their hapless hosts just after the hour mark encapsulates the season as a whole.

It was a mess entirely of their own making with George Saville, Ryan Leonard and Danny McNamara all involved. It was Saville’s poor touch which initially played Millwall into trouble but neither Leonard nor McNamara had the nous to put the ball into touch with Japhet Tanganga down injured.

It was McNamara, though, who carelessly eased the ball into the path of Arnor Sigurdsson, who teed up top-scorer Sammie Smzodics for the simplest of his 20 Championship goals this term.

While it’s hard to defend such a lapse, it does feel incredibly harsh that McNamara was culpable given he has excelled out of position at left-back in the victories over Southampton and Watford.

But maybe that, in its own weird way, is a positive in itself. On reflection, that was the only way Blackburn were getting back into the game – either a moment of magic or madness.

The brittle, porous Millwall team that Harris inherited already looks to have far more about it. More ‘Millwall-ness’, to coin a phrase he’s used on more than one occasion over the last fortnight.

All of a sudden, Millwall no longer look a soft touch. A fortnight ago, you wouldn’t have fancied us in a relegation scrap. Players now, at least, seem up for the fight.

Mitigating circumstances or not, tomorrow’s match against Birmingham is the only thing that will determine whether or not the point banked on Tuesday night was a good one.

Harris has stressed he has no magic formula for success at the Den, but if there is such a thing, nobody has come closer than him to cracking it.

Another win at the weekend should, at the very least, ease relegation fears even if it won’t be a case of job done. But failure to beat another relegation rival will leave plenty wondering ‘what it’.

STAR MAN
Japhet Tanganga. Another colossal display from the Spurs defender, who is starting to find some form

BEST MOMENT
Michael Obafemi’s first Millwall goal. A smart finish after some prime scrapping to reward those hardy 338 souls who travelled to Ewood Park.