By Stuart Kidson
April 14 2004

DOWN TO 9 MEN THANKS TO SOME VERY DUBIOUS REFEREEING, THE BAGGIES HELD ON FOR A BRIEF RETURN TO THE TOP OF THE PILE OVER THE EASTER BANK HOLIDAY. A BATTLING SECOND HALF PERFORMANCE SAW ANDY JOHNSON GRAB HIS SECOND OF THE SEASON TO SAVE THE 8 GAME UNBEATEN RUN. Millwall (1) v West Bromwich Albion (1)
The New Den, Monday 12th April 2004
Nationwide League Division One

Cup Finalists Millwall were hosts to The Barmy Army on Bank Holiday Monday and both sides were looking for three points to continue the push for promotion or the play offs at least come the beginning of May. Millwall were on the wrong end of a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Coventry at the weekend as the post Semi-Final party dramatically ground to a halt at Highfield Road.

Albion were looking to move back to the top spot for a brief period, with Norwich’s game at Reading kicking off at 5.35pm the same afternoon. A win at The New Den and a win for Reading would give The Baggies a 3-point cushion in the Championship race.

Gary Megson made numerous surprise changes to the squad with James O’Connor and Scott Dobie returning to first team duties and Delroy Facey being preferred to Lee Hughes up front from the start. Paul Robinson was out injured following the game on Saturday against Gillingham.

Millwall’s Danny Dichio was up against his former teammates for the first time since his move to the Bermondsey club earlier in the year and comments made by the Hammersmith born striker about manager Gary Megson still stung his ex colleagues who were left feeling that they were best left unsaid. Darren Moore let his feeling become known towards the shaven headed forward, when he went into a heavy aerial challenge, which saw both players in a heap on the floor with less than 8 seconds on the clock.

Both sides were clearly looking slightly jaded following games 48 hours previously and neither side produced a chance at either end during the first 15-minutes of this top of the table game. When it did arrive, it was fans favourite Thomas Gaardsoe who found himself unmarked but the Danish international could not jump high enough to meet Jason Koumas’s far post ball.

Four minutes later James Chambers gave away an unnecessary foul out wide of the Baggies area. Dennis Wise crossed in a wonderfully weighted ball, which saw Russell Hoult rushing from his line to punch clear. Unfortunately for the Baggies Dichio was quicker to react than his former teammate and the forward powered in a trademark header to give the home side the lead. Moments later Moore was forced into making a crucial tackle on Millwall’s other striker, Mark McCammon as he teed himself up for a shot inside the area.

Millwall were taking the game to the Baggies and seemed to be playing with confidence following the tentative opening stages. Tim Cahill made an audacious attempt to lob Hoult from 40 yards after the Socceroo had spotted the Baggies keeper off his line but accuracy had been sacrificed for power and the attempt went wide.

Albion had been struggling to find an answer to the midfield presence of Wise and could not get a fluid side to their game going and this meant that shots on goal were few and far between for the visitors. Koumas had the first real chance from a shot when he tried a curling left footed effort from 25 yards out but the ball sailed wide of the goals by some distance.

Moments later Albion recorded their first effort on goal when McCammon headed a Gaardsoe free kick up in the air and the ball fell invitingly for Facey to volley 15-yards from goal. Andy Marshall was able to parry the ball and the danger passed.

Referee Mr. S.W. Mathieson had been having an interesting game to say the least having produced his cards as if they had been going out of fashion and in the 43rd minute he stunned West Brom fans by producing his Yellow card for the second time to Koumas for a challenge on Wise. Wise had bought down Neil Clement earlier in the half with a two footed tackle from behind and been given a warning, Koumas made a challenge for the ball from the side and was booked for the second time and therefore had to leave the field. With the Baggies down to 10 men the prospects did not look good, especially as Koumas could turn a game on his own. Now they were without him for the rest of the game thanks to Wise’s theatrical performance.


Despite the setback Albion still managed to end the half strongly with two chances of real worth in the dying minutes of the game. First, Marshall was forced to dive low to his left to push Moore’s powerful downwards header around the post for a corner after Sean Gregan had chipped the ball into the area. The second chance came from the flag kick when Facey headed towards goal from the back post, but again Marshall was on hand to block the effort and deny the Baggies an equaliser.

Changes to the team in the break saw Facey replaced with Dobie and O’Connor for Lloyd Dyer, but it was the Londoner’s who almost doubled their lead when Dichio played Cahill away down the right. The Aussies low cross-found McCammon and the striker was about to shoot into an empty net when Chambers made a last ditch tackle to deny him of the opportunity.

The Baggies were beginning to get into the game at last despite being one man light in midfield and in the 55th minute Clement and Dyer worked a route down the left with a neat interchange of passes. Dyer drove a low ball across the 6-yard area and Dobie slid in at full stretch to poke the ball towards goal past Marshall. Andy Johnson was on hand at the post to make sure it crossed the line for his second of the season. The Barmy Army, at the opposite end of the ground, went into rapturous applause and soon the strains of ‘The Lords My Shepard’ rang out across this corner of South London.

Minutes later Dyer tried a long range shot from 25-yards which had Marshall beaten with its dramatic swerve, but the ball dipped too late and thundered off the crossbar to save Millwall from going a goal behind. The Albion were working hard to cover for the missing player, but Millwall still looked extremely dangerous when on the ball, with Wise being by far and away their most influential player by far.

Hoult stood firm on 80 minutes to deny Peter Sweeney a goal when the Lions substitute drove an angled shot at goal and the Baggies were forced to batten down all hatches and defend a series of Lion’s attacks during the last 10-minutes of play. More bewildering decisions by referee Mr. Mathieson did not help the Baggies cause and Dichio, who had already been booked for using his elbows in his titanic struggle with Big Dave. Mr. Mathieson decided to give the former Sampodoria striker a warning for a further infringement and the feeling amongst the away support was that surely if it merited a warning then the card should have been produced and Dichio sent off.

The referee was at the centre of further controversy deep inside the two minutes injury time added on when he awarded a free kick to Millwall on the edge of the 18 yard box and sent off Gaardsoe for a professional foul with a straight red card. Most of the 13,304 crowd were left baffled as to why the Dane got his marching orders. At first it appeared the inept referee had pointed to the penalty spot for the offence, which appears to have been for a shirt tug by the Dane and not an offence worthy of a straight red card, but changed his mind and awarded a free kick from the edge of the area. Wise laid the ball off for Neil Harris to drive at goal, but Mark Kinsella was alert to the substitutes intentions and blocked the path of the ball and the ball was cleared form danger.

The referee blew for time and The Baggies fans sang out ‘Top of the League, We’re Having A Laugh’ as they left the stadium for the long trip home. All in all it was another example of the Baggies season so far as they failed to come alive during the first half and only started to play when they had fallen behind. Millwall will see the game as two points dropped as they had the majority of the play and were unlucky not to get more from the game.

I would like to take this chance to wish Millwall all the best on May 22nd when they face the might of Manchester United at The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in the F.A. Cup Final. Being under dogs will certainly suit Millwall and with Dennis Wise in midfield opposite Roy Keane we can all expect a few fireworks during the game. Good luck Lions !!!!!!!!

The baggiesworld.co.uk Man of the Match went to Sean Gregan.

Teams
MILLWALL Marshall, Roberts, Lawrence, Ward, Ryan, Eliot, Wise, Cahill, Livermore, McCammon, Dichio
Subs Sweeney, Harris, Gueret, Chadwick, Heran
BAGGIES Hoult, Gaardsoe, Moore, Gregan, J. Chambers, Johnson, O’Connor, Koumas, Clement, Facey, Horsfield
Subs Murphy, Dobie, Dyer, Hughes, Kinsella,