Millwall striker signing underwent toe surgery in summer which has impacted his pre-season work

New Millwall striker Macaulay Langstaff underwent toe surgery over the close season – with Neil Harris explaining that the new striker’s workload has had to be managed.

The Lions snapped up the Notts County goal machine this summer for an undisclosed fee.

Langstaff and Kevin Nisbet both came on in the closing stages of yesterday’s 1-0 friendly defeat to Southampton.

Scottish international Nisbet missed a hefty chunk of the last campaign with a hamstring injury and then was also left out of the 1-0 victory at Swansea on the final day of last season with head coach Harris adding it was “a disciplinary matter about culture and standards”.

Asked by the South London Press if the pair were fit enough to start for Millwall, Harris said: “Both need a little bit more, for different reasons.

“Macca had a toe op in the summer, which we were obviously aware of, and when he came in he hadn’t done the pre-season programme like all our lads and the Notts County lads had done.

“Where our lads had seven or eight running sessions – plus six or seven training sessions – Macca had done two days. We knew he was sort of 10 sessions behind and what I’ve seen with him, and it is really encouraging, is he had got sharper and sharper each week he has been with us.

“That has definitely culminated in this week being sharper. I’d have loved Bradders to have gone 90 minutes – Tom would have loved that – but ultimately I wanted to get Macca out on the pitch at The Den, just for 15 minutes, just so he gets the pitch surroundings and dimensions, a feel for it with the fans.

“As always we have to be patient with our players that they get the right minutes. Shaun Hutchinson played 45 minutes today because we have to make sure, with such a small squad at the moment, we need to make sure we don’t push them too hard.

“Kevin is getting stronger all the time. He has played quite a lot of minutes over pre-season. Sometimes players need different sorts of minutes and a bit more sharpness in the legs – that’s why Kevin is training on the pitch at the moment (in a small-sided game).”