‘People will start talking about him’ – Millwall boss on Mihailo Ivanovic’s ‘unbelievable’ first season in Championship

BY MITCHELL HALL

Millwall boss Alex Neil was full of praise for 20-year-old striker Mihailo Ivanovic as his goals at The Den secured all three points in a 2-1 win over Portsmouth.

Ivanovic opened the scoring in the 57th minute when he glanced a George Honeyman cross home goal at the front post, but the strike was quickly cancelled out by Andre Dozzell’s frantic equaliser.

Ivanovic appeared at the perfect time again to head home a precision Casper De Norre cross to restore his side’s lead in the 87th minute.

The goals brought the young Serb’s Championship tally to eight in his debut campaign, having signed with the club while a teenager in August.

“Ivanovic was brilliant,” Neil said. “Any 20-year-old that leads the line in the Championship, and he will get double figures before the end of the season, to do that is an unbelievable season.

“It will not surprise me if people start talking about him. There was something I read the other day about the top 10 young talents from Europe and he was one of them.

“There are very, very few strikers at that age who can lead the line at this level at 22 years  of age and score goals. He deserves all the plaudits.”

Neil was also keen to highlight the impact of the partnership that Ivanovic struck up with fellow striker Josh Coburn on the day, starting alongside each other in a front two.

“Although Mihailo will get the headlines for his goals, the front two were the main reason why we carried the threat we did in the second half,” said the Scot. “They bumped things, they flicked things on, they played together and interlinked a little bit.

“Bear in mind they have only played together twice, so normally if you are forming partnerships at any club it takes a length of time to get there, and the two of them are young players as well.

“Coburn has come in and he has had a really good impact for us so I am really pleased with his performance.”