Millwall showing signs they can give Championship big boys something to worry about
Austin 9
MILLWALL 2
Bradshaw 28 O’Brien 55
BY TIM NASH AT THE HAWTHORNS
Millwall are well-known for their ability to triumph through adversity.
But one man summed up that fighting spirit more than any other at West Brom.
Step forward Tom Bradshaw. In fact he had no choice but to do so after being called out in the dressing room by manager Neil Harris, who led the players and staff in a standing ovation for the striker, who played such a significant part in this EFL Cup win.
Bradshaw has been dogged by ill fortune since he arrived on loan at The Den almost exactly a year ago to the day, initially on loan from Barnsley.
A serious knee injury after just 10 appearances for the club rendered his season over at the start of November, leaving him to contemplate a lonely road of surgery, rehabilitation and the associated mental and physical slog for the rest of the season.
Harris had already pledged his faith in Bradshaw by making him the club’s record £1.25m signing.
But he revealed back in February that far from the Wales international feeling sorry for himself, he was already making an impact around the place by lifting spirits in those around him after results or performances dipped.
Thankfully, it was Bradshaw on the end of the support on Tuesday night, as he scored his maiden goal in a Millwall shirt, some 355 days after joining the club.
His stooping header to cancel out debutant Charlie Austin’s opener for West Brom wasn’t the most spectacular, but that didn’t matter.
Just five-and-a-half miles from where he enjoyed the most prolific spell of his career – at Walsall – Bradshaw’s goal at The Hawthorns showed he is well on the way back.
It showed he has lost none of his predatory instincts that have brought him 79 career goals and it gave hope that there are plenty more to come from him for Millwall.
But if the number nine’s goal gave Millwall a platform for this deserved victory, then there was evidence all over the pitch that this sort of result can be emulated in the Championship on a regular basis – provided this performance can be repeated over the coming months.
Harris made eight changes from the side that earned a point against the same opponents three days before.
Like the manager says, players might play well, be part of a win, but still find themselves sidelined the following game, such is the fierce competition for places from his 20-strong squad.
Judging on this display, the so-called fringe players are well up for the challenge.
Millwall were the sharper, more penetrating team going forwards. And then when they had to defend, as they were forced to do for much of the last half hour, they did as if their lives depended on it.
Once Bradshaw’s clinical header put them back into the game, there was no looking back for Millwall.
Okay, so they might have enjoyed a slice of fortune when Semi Ajayi’s bullet header – just three minutes after the equaliser – was ruled out for a foul that few apart from the referee saw at the time. But Millwall more than showed enough to earn a second round tie away to Oxford.
Only the heroics of keeper Jonathan Bond denied them a second goal, when he bravely smothered Aiden O’Brien’s point-blank angled shot then somehow got up to acrobatically turn Jiri Slalak’s follow-up over the bar. Talking of Skalak, the Czech Republic international was the architect of all of Millwall’s best opportunities, claiming both assists with his razor-sharp set-piece deliveries.
Another Skalak corner was teed up perfectly for Jon Dadi Bodvarsson to at least hit the target, but the Iceland international could only nod over the bar when unmarked.
Thankfully for Millwall, O’Brien bundled over the line for the winner 10 minutes after the break, after Skalak’s flag-kick.
It was Milwall’s turn to defend after that as West Brom, who have now conceded three set-piece goals to Harris’s side in their last two games, tried desperately to find a lifeline.
But they were shut off by some dogged and excellent defending by the Lions, who protected goalkeeper Luke Steele so well that the former Baggies shotstopper didn’t have a serious save to make.
Everyone put their bodies on the line, and, although Murray Wallace and Shaun Hutchinson will rightly take much of the credit for their sterling rearguard action, the likes of debutant Jayson Molumby in front of them also deserved huge praise.
Millwall face some tough tests ahead, with Sheffield Wednesday the visitors to SE16 on Saturday with trips to hugely-fancied Fulham and Middlesbrough next after that. But if they play like this, it is the Lions who will be giving the Championship’s big boys something to worry about.
Millwall (4-4-2): Steele 8, McCarthy 8, Hutchinson 8, M Wallace 8, Ferguson 7, O’Brien 8 (Romeo 64, 6), Molumby 7 (Williams 62, 6), Leonard 7, Skalak 8, Bodvarsson 6, Bradshaw 8 (Thompson 79, 6). Not used: Bialkowski, Cooper, Smith, Mohoney.