Four takeaways from Millwall’s 2-0 win over West Brom – Solid Den debut for Burke and Bennett needs to chip in with more goals
Millwall picked up their first win of 2022 as goals from Mason Bennett and Benik Afobe deservedly wrapped up a 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion at The Den.
Here are Richard Cawley’s takeaways from Saturday’s match.
SOLID DEN DEBUT FOR OLIVER BURKE
The 24-year-old made his first start for Millwall since his loan move from Sheffield United – playing on the right of a front three – and could be content with his performance. His reverse pass paved the way for Danny McNamara to rampage down the right flank in the first half – the wing-back’s cross just evading Afobe – and David Button had to be switched on to deny Burke in the second half. His effort was appreciated by the home crowd who gave him a standing ovation when he was replaced by Tyler Burey in the 79th minute.
Burke has played just 160 minutes of football since September 21 – with 110 of those in a Lions shirt. He’s only going to get sharper and more effective the more he builds up his game time.
LONG OVERDUE GOAL FOR MASON BENNETT
Bennett made only his seventh Championship start of the season in Saturday’s victory over the Baggies with multiple factors behind the fact he has not been as available to Gary Rowett as he was in the previous campaign, when he started 29 league games and made 37 appearances in that competition.
When he is fit and firing the former Derby County player is a handful for opposition defences, especially when you factor in that he is deceptively strong in the air and also has the pace and power to make things happen in the final third.
Bennett’s close-range finish at the weekend – West Brom’s Andy Carroll arguably getting a touch to help the ball into the net – was his first goal of the season and ended a 21-match run without scoring. For a player of his quality, that isn’t a productive enough return.
HOME COMFORTS
Millwall have lost one of their last seven league matches at The Den – and even that 1-0 defeat to Forest would have been a different outcome if they had finished off the chances they created.
Twenty-two of their 36 points have been banked in SE16 and they still have 10 more fixtures on home turf to go, starting with Tuesday night against Preston North End.
They need just 10 more points to beat their Den total for the whole of last season. Their best home return since promotion was 43 points in 2017-18 – their first back in England’s second tier. They only had 30 in the 2018-19 season, winning just seven times at The Den, with 38 amassed in 2019-20.
SUPER COOPER
Millwall knew that Saturday’s match was going to be a physical test where their aerial ability would come under scrutiny – exactly the kind of match that Jake Cooper relishes.
West Bromwich Albion completed a deal for Andy Carroll in time for him to play on Saturday but the former West Ham striker’s best chance to score came early on, Bart Bialkowski producing an excellent low save to his left to scoop the ball away.
Cooper won nine aerial duels – four more than the Baggies’ new number 15 – with only Kyle Bartley (12) managing more.
The Lions’ three central defenders – Cooper, Shaun Hutchinson and Murray Wallace – were resilient and composed as the Lions collected only their third clean sheet at home this season, and first there since seeing off Reading 1-0 on November 2.