By Jr
August 8 2005

After a summer of turmoil, a 2-1 defeat at Leeds could be seen as a good result. Okay, Leeds were without Rob Hulse – a former transfer target of Millwall’s when Dennis Wise was at the helm – but still they fielded a decent side. After a summer of turmoil, a 2-1 defeat at Leeds could be seen as a good result. Okay, Leeds were without Rob Hulse – a former transfer target of Millwall’s when Dennis Wise was at the helm – but still they fielded a decent side. On this showing though, Leeds will find it difficult to reach the play-offs, while Millwall will fancy their chances of being safe come the end of the season.

Indeed, there were many positives to be taken from the game from Millwall’s perspective. Debutante Don Hutchison scored with a spectacular strike and put in a good performance, notwithstanding his mistakes that led to Leeds’ opening goal. A stray pass from the Scotland international led to a corner that Hutchison could only touch into the path of David Healy, who volleyed home.

Playing a 4-5-1 formation, Millwall were all about damage limitation, but at least their patience seemed to be paying off when Hutchison smashed in an Alan Dunne pass to make it 1-1. All was well suddenly, with Jody Morris dominating midfield as Leeds began showing signs of fragility.

However, it was Millwall who crumbled following an impetuous challenge by Marvin Elliott on Eric Bakke that resulted in a penalty. Healy made no mistake from the spot, scoring the winner.

Millwall had restricted Leeds to very few opportunities so should draw encouragement from that. Also, Dunne had his best game at right back in recent memory – keeping American international Eddie Lewis reasonably quiet - although many would claim playing the youngster on the right-side of midfield would make more sense given his scintillating displays there last season.

On the other flank, Jamie Vincent had a reasonable Millwall debut while the rest of the team were solid and disciplined. Given the upheaval at the club lately, such a performance was the best that could be expected.

People will still wonder what the performance would have been like though under Steve Claridge, unceremoniously dismissed after only a month in charge. Based on his selections in friendlies, it could have been a 4-4-2 or 3-5-2 formation at Elland Road with Ben May included from the start.

Also, Bob Peeters may have got a run out as a substitute instead of Kevin Braniff. The towering height of the Belgium international striker could have been usefully combined with the long throwing ability of Adrian Serioux to good effect, but Peeters has been less than prolific since his arrival. Three goals in 16 starts tells its own story.

Braniff’s total is even worse: one league goal in 14 starts, but at least he has youth on his side so may yet prove to be good enough at this level. In contrast, Peeters’ only moment of glory at the Den came as a “super sub” when he scored a late headed equaliser against Crystal Palace, so some of the same would have come in handy away at Leeds.

In the final analysis though, could any manager other than Colin Lee conjured up a better result for Millwall at Leeds? Given the state of the current squad, you’d have to say it would be unlikely.

Unfortunately, if you decimate a squad you can’t hope to have any aspiration other than survival no matter what noises are made to the contrary. It may have been a financial necessity to part company with the likes of Graham Stack, Kevin Muscat, Darren Ward, Paul Ifill, Peter Sweeney, Danny Dichio and Wise, but the new reality is Millwall will struggle unless they manage to strengthen the squad.

When suspensions and injuries begin to take effect, then perhaps reality will hit home. Millwall fans can only hope that money can be found to fund new acquisitions, or otherwise the club had better start budgeting for League One.