By Joe B
April 11 2004

With only 7 shots on target, the 4-0 scoreline flattered Coventry, but their fans were damning about Millwall's chances v Manchester United in the FA Cup final. “It’ll be the most one sided cup final ever” said one Coventry City fan after FA Cup finalists Millwall succumbed 4-0 at Highfield Road on Saturday, and he was not referring to the FA’s controversial decision to award Manchester United most of the ticket allocation for the Millennium Stadium meeting on May 22nd either.

Another home fan muttered: “United will score fifteen”, which may not be such a gross exaggeration if the under-strength Lions continue to gift the opposition goals.

Without the aerial power of the injured target man Danny Dichio, Millwall struggled to defend at corners and were two behind within the first 12 minutes.

The Sky Blues capitalised on Millwall’s sloppy start with early goals from Julian Joachim and Eric Doloumeaux.

When Darren Ward’s defensive misunderstanding with keeper Andy Marshall gifted Joachim his second shortly after the interval, the game was effectively over as a contest.

In an effort to claw back the half-time deficit, Lions player/boss Dennis Wise had already made three substitutions during the break, but this decision backfired when right back Alan Dunne was injured by Stephen Warnock – which forced the Lions to play with ten men for the final few minutes.

Adding insult to Dunne’s injury, Gary McSheffrey converted from the spot - after Matt Lawrence’s foul on Joachim - to make it four.

Wise said: “I think obviously we’ve missed four people who are characters in the dressing room, Paul Ifill, Kevin Muscat, Danny Dichio and myself.

“We had a lot of youngsters out there that basically I was forced into playing. Some of them did well and I’m pleased with them.

“I had to make changes at half time. Neil Harris wasn’t doing very well so that’s why I took him off, while Tim Cahill is one booking away from I don’t know how many games suspension.

“Tim’s on a tightrope, but he has to get on with it. I don’t want Tim thinking, ‘I don’t want to miss the cup final”, because the play-offs are important. He has to put the final to the back of his mind.

“The play-offs are still our main aim, as it was when Ray Wilkins and I took over. We have to forget about the FA Cup final. In the position we’ve got ourselves in, we have to be strong as a group.

“The players that have come in - because we’ve got three or four missing – have to show us they can do it. Hopefully they’ll learn from this disappointment.

“We had a couple of chances and they scored from two set pieces and we went in at half time two goals down. If you don’t mark your man at set pieces that’s what happens. We’ve concentrated a lot on that sort of thing this year and it was too easy for Coventry.

“I’ve got no complaints about my back four and goalkeeper as the way they have performed this year has been fantastic. They pride themselves on clean sheets and they’ve been great.

“The defeat will hurt the players and that’s a bonus as they’ll want to put things right.”

On Saturday, the quest for promotion continues with another Midland away day, as the play-off chasing Lions take on resurgent Nottingham Forest.