George Long ‘chomping at the bit’ to get back playing after Millwall league bow – and how Zian Flemming has relieved travel boredom

George Long is hoping to make it back-to-back Championship starts for Millwall by keeping his place for Saturday’s fixture at Blackburn Rovers.

Bartosz Bialkowski had played every minute of the previous 146 league matches but dropped out for the 2-1 win over Blackpool before the international break.

And Long, who had previously only featured in cup competitions for the Lions, admits he would have loved to have kicked straight on with the domestic schedule.

“Getting a start was brilliant and the win as well, which was big for us, and then the international break came as well – which meant I could enjoy it for a bit longer,” he told the South London Press.

“But also you want to get stuck into a few more. But that’s just how it was [with the break]. I’m grateful to get the start and the win as well.

“We’ve got a lot of fixtures coming up, so there is plenty of time for more games.

“The ones who go away with their international teams don’t get much of a break. But the ones who aren’t away get time to reset mentally and have a little bit of a rest before a heavy fixture schedule up until the World Cup.

“Everyone is chomping at the bit to get going again.

“I’m grateful to the gaffer. He has put faith in me last week. I’ll take it one game at a time and keep trying to help the team as best I can and enjoy playing.”

Millwall have taken one point from a possible 12 away from The Den and have not won on their travels since March.

“We want to take that home form away from home,” said Long. “Sometimes you are just happy to nick draws and be hard to beat, I think that’s what we’re after. But we’ve got the quality up top to start getting wins away from home as well. We will start doing that. Blackburn and Rotherham in the space of four days is a good opportunity to get some more points on the board away from home.

“We can probably get a bit of momentum from that.”

Summer signing Zian Flemming, who opened his goal account for the Lions against Blackpool, has helped break up some of the monotony that comes with long away slogs on the team coach.

“A few lads put headphones on but recently Zian has brought in a dice game called Perudo, which has gone down really well,” said Long. “About eight lads were playing that for a couple of hours on the last away trip. I’m sure that will make an appearance.”

Flemming has been one of Millwall’s brightest attacking outlets since returning from injury and also has chalked off the milestone of a first goal since his club record transfer from Fortuna Sittard.

“He’s got a thunderbolt strike on him, it’s ridiculous really,” said Long. “Especially from outside the box – it’s a big weapon for him. He’s had a few free-kicks already which have caused keepers’ trouble.

“He’s a brilliant player. Now he has got the first he will probably start adding to that and showing more quality and what he can do. He’s a great addition to the team.”

See tomorrow’s South London Press for the full exclusive interview with Long.