Millwall’s Scott Malone on his celebration against Derby and why goal wait had weighed on his mind

It’s a sign of Scott Malone’s attacking intent that he was feeling the pressure of not scoring in the Championship this season before the visit of Derby County to The Den.

And the 30-year-old has set himself a target of at least matching the six goals he netted in the 2020-21 campaign.

Malone and Mason Bennett had been barracked by the travelling Rams supporters. So when the former fired past Kelle Roos, it led to a cupped ear celebration in front of the North Stand.

“They were giving me a bit of stick, which is fair enough, and then I scored,” said Malone, who played 56 times for Derby before sealing a return to SE16 in August 2020.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, I was part of the play-off final squad. But it’s football, isn’t it? You take a bit and you give a bit.

“I did enjoy it. It was more the excitement of actually scoring a goal and getting off the mark in the league.

“There isn’t any extra motivation playing against a former club. I’ve had so many that it feels like I’m doing that every other week! You prepare the same. You don’t think differently, it’s just another game.

“I needed to get off the mark. I’d scored in the cup [against Portsmouth] but getting one in the league was something I needed to do. I’d played 14 games in the league without a goal. I wouldn’t say it was worrying me, but it’s always at the back of your mind

“I’d targeted six again, like I did last season. That is the target.

“Everything I hit last season seemed to go in. This time I’ve had a lot of shots and none of them had gone it – the keeper was saving them or I was missing the target.

“Funnily enough I did a little bit of work on the Friday after training. Only six or seven balls, just to try and get the feel of hitting the target again. The longer the wait goes on the more you start rushing. Strikers say that the longer you go without a goal it gets on top of you.”

Derby boss Wayne Rooney felt Roos could have done better to stop Malone’s strike.

“I went across the keeper, which is something I’d talked about doing on Friday,” responded the Millwall man. “I did everything I should’ve done.

“It did dip a little bit under him. Could he have saved it? I don’t know. Maybe. Just with how clean I’ve struck it, I’ve got my rewards for it.”

Millwall are pitched back into the Championship slog tomorrow.

The Lions make the long trip north to face Middlesbrough, under new management after Chris Wilder’s appointment, before a home fixture against Championship leaders Bournemouth on Wednesday.

“We’ve had a few days off and then a few days in again so we still got a nice bit of work done,” said Malone. “You can’t have too long off. If you stop for too long then it can be a bit hard to get going. It’s important to keep ticking over.

“The blocks in between the international breaks see you go Saturday-Tuesday all the time. It’s pretty full on now but everyone in our changing room has been in the Championship a long time and knows what is coming.”

The last time that Millwall won on Teesside was April 2014, thanks to a Stefan Maierhofer double.

Since then they have taken two points from a possible 15 at the Riverside Stadium.

Wilder has had a match-free fortnight to prep his troops.

“Every team that gets taken over has a little bit of something about them,” said Malone.

“Everyone will want to impress him.

“He will probably have new ideas about the way he wants to play, I’m sure it will be different to what Warnock was doing.

“They’ve had a couple of weeks to work on it. There will be a little bit of unknown going into the game, in terms of what he’s going to do. But we’ve been good away from home and will concentrate on what we need to do. We’ll go there full of confidence.”

Millwall have 25 points on the board – their best return after 17 matches since promotion back to the Championship in 2017. That’s an improvement on 21 (2020), 24 (2019), 16 (2018) and 18 (2017).

“We need to add to that,” said Malone. “There’s no point saying this is the best start we’ve had in x amount of years – we need to build on it. We’re in a good position – still in and around the play-off positions and only five points off fourth.”

Malone’s performances on loan for Bournemouth saw him make a permanent switch from Wolves in 2012.

“That was the loan I’d say I really developed and starting playing my best football,” said Malone.

“I scored quite a few goals for them and I played left midfield quite a bit.

“Scottie [Parker] has done a great job. To only lose one league game speaks for itself.

“They are in frightening form but they are coming to The Den. It should be a really good game.”