Millwall lost their cutting edge in Preston North End stalemate – it’s not the first time this season that problem has reared its head

BY DANIEL MARSH

Millwall came into Tuesday night’s clash against Preston in buoyant mood off the back of an impressive 2-0 win over West Brom at the weekend. Despite the Lions’ stuttering form in recent weeks there was a sense, perhaps, that another positive result could help Gary Rowett’s side kick on for the second half of the season.

But instead, the Lions were left with a major case of déjà vu. Once again, Millwall followed up an impressive result with an uninspiring display.

In reality, it’s their inability to string together a run of results over the past few seasons that have killed any chance of them putting themselves into the play-off mix for a sustained period.

They never really looked like bucking that trend in a game that was completely starved of quality.

Millwall and Preston mustered just three shots on target all night – with the visitors even spurning a penalty after Shaun Hutchinson was penalised in the box.

Aside from a speculative effort from Maikel Kieftenbeld and a tame strike from Mason Bennett, the Lions failed to worry Daniel Iversen in the visiting goal.

Despite finishing the game with a plethora of attacking players on the pitch, Millwall lacked the guile to carve open their stubborn visitors.

This isn’t the first time this season they have lost their cutting edge – their tally of 29 goals from 29 games has severely hampered the Lions’ prospects of finally breaking into the Championship top six.

The last-gasp signing of Luke Freeman on deadline day should go some way to giving Millwall a much-needed creativity boost.

The Lions have been crying out for an attacking midfielder of Freeman’s ilk over the past couple of seasons. While he has the potential to be a game changer, he won’t have the desired impact if those around him aren’t braver on the ball.

Preston certainly made things difficult for Millwall on Tuesday night by sitting deep, but the Lions did themselves no favours with some pretty rotten play.

Too often players opted to take the easy way out with a sideways pass or a pass back to their own goal.

While some static movement may have played a part in the first half, that wasn’t the case after the break. And following the introduction of Connor Mahoney and Jed Wallace, the Lions had loads of attacking players on the pitch.

But the reluctance of some to take risks on the ball led to the duo dropping deeper and deeper to try and influence the game.

Players like Mahoney and Wallace aren’t going to impact games for Millwall unless they can get on the ball in dangerous areas.

With three centre-halves on the pitch, it feels as if there’s always an easy option for players on the ball – and more often than not, they take it. That needs to change if the Lions are going to keep their season alive over the next few months.

The late introduction of Tyler Burey finally saw someone attempt to take the game to Preston, who were there for the taking. His impressive cameos are getting harder and harder to ignore.

There’s a real air of expectancy whenever the former AFC Wimbledon youngster is on the ball.

It feels almost inevitable that he’ll muscle his way into the starting 11 sooner rather than later after he was handed an unexpected chance to impress back in SE16 this month.

Rowett revealed after Tuesday night’s stalemate that the Lions had seen “four or five” permanent bids for young players rebuffed during the winter window.

While fans may be disheartened by a lack of new faces, the club’s clear focus on snapping up young talent on a permanent basis rather than stop-gap loan signings is a major step in the right direction.

It would have been easy for Millwall to panic and relent on their new stance in the wake of injuries to key men like Tom Bradshaw and Sheyi Ojo before the window slammed shut. But their decision to keep their powder dry until the summer rather than snapping up a clutch of last-gasp panic buys was the right call.

Rowett will be able to perform some much-needed surgery on the playing squad in the summer.

On current form it’s hard to see Millwall troubling the top-six or dropping into a relegation dogfight.

STAR MAN
Murray Wallace. Another sterling display.

BEST MOMENT
Maikel Kieftenbeld’s outrageous first-time volley that was deflected narrowly off target. Would have been the goal of the season.