Millwall winger Shane Ferguson hoping for another lengthy FA Cup run for Lions

BY JAKE SANDERS

Shane Ferguson admitted Millwall would love another FA Cup run after his heroics settled their third round tie against Hull City on Sunday.

The Northern Ireland international – part of a triple change by Lions manager Neil Harris in the second half – netted twice in the final eight minutes to send the Lions into round four for a third straight season.

First Ferguson curled home after playing a short corner with Jed Wallace and then bent a 20-yard free-kick over the City wall and into George Long’s net.

“I was telling Pearcy [Alex Pearce] because he only signed recently, that it doesn’t happen much [him scoring,” said Ferguson. “He’ll be thinking it does.

“But I was delighted with it. Obviously with the set-pieces we usually put them in the box, but Jed [Wallace] came short and was screaming my name, so we just played it from there. The manager encouraged us to play off the cuff – luckily it opened up for me and went in.

“The first half wasn’t good enough, we all knew that. There was a few words said at half time and we came out in the second half a lot better.”

Millwall reached the quarter-finals two seasons ago – beating three Premier League sides including reigning champions Leicester City – before they were knocked out by Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

Ferguson said: ”We had that run in League One. We love going on them and playing in the biggest stadiums – testing ourselves against the best players.”

Ferguson started his 18th game of the campaign, already five more than he managed in the whole of last season.

He said: “It was tough last year – getting injured. I just came back for pre-season and worked hard and I am thankful to the manager for giving me an opportunity to come in and try to affect the team as much as I can.

“The results weren’t the best at the start of the season and the manager wanted to try something new. I obviously knew what it was like not to be playing.

“I got that opportunity and didn’t want that to happen again – being out of the team. On Saturday’s you don’t want to be in the stands watching your team-mates play, and I have been working hard every game trying to stay in the team.”