By Jr
March 6 2005

Millwall managed to end another turbulent week with a creditable 1-1 draw against fellow play-off hopefuls Leeds United. Just days before the game, fans’ favourite Barry Hayles had claimed that the players were a “bit disillusioned at the news coming from the boardroom.” Millwall 1 Leeds United 1

Millwall managed to end another turbulent week with a creditable 1-1 draw against fellow play-off hopefuls Leeds United.

Just days before the game, fans’ favourite Barry Hayles had claimed that the players were a “bit disillusioned at the news coming from the boardroom.”

The popular striker was referring to the debt that Millwall are in, and future plans to cut costs and sell players.

Despite the sale of Scott Dobie and the promise of a couple of new faces on loan, none have appeared.

But luckily, on Sunday, many of the youngsters came of age against the Yorkshire giants.

The Leeds United team of 2005 may not possess the legendary “greats” of the past like Allan Clarke, Peter Lorimer, Billy Bremner and Norman Hunter.

However, they do have in their ranks many players who have been heavily linked with moves to Millwall that have fallen through for various reasons, finance possibly being the major factor.

Only recently, there were speculative reports linking Dulwich-born Marlon King with the Lions, but instead of coming to the Den to strengthen Millwall’s injury and suspension-weakened team he was sitting on the visitors’ bench.

The Lions’ past interest in Leeds midfielder Sean Gregan has been well-documented, while Millwall player boss Dennis Wise admitted trying to bring in Gregan’s team-mates Michael Gray, Shaun Derry and Rob Hulse only a matter of days ago.

So had those forays on the transfer front been successful, there could have been two very different line-ups at the Den.

Perhaps the score line would have been different too, as Hulse - who turned down Millwall in the summer as well as more recently - applied the killer touch in front of goal to deny the hosts all three points.

But had the likes of Hulse been recruited, there would be less opportunity for the youngsters and on this showing they clearly deserve their chance in the limelight.

Millwall’s 23-year-old centre back Paul Robinson - returning from a loan spell at Torquay United - not only performed admirably at right back, but also scored the opener.

Despite his tender years, Robinson was one of the older heads in the starting XI - only four players were his senior.

Under the circumstances, Wise was rightly pleased with the performance: “I'm proud of the lads. They showed a lot of enthusiasm and did extremely well.

"They don't know the game properly yet and still need a lot of help - but what you can always expect is for them to work hard and they showed what they can do.

"We were very hard done by.

"I thought we'd done enough to win it, but we're still in with a shout of the play-offs."

On the subject of his old friend Ken Bates, now chairman of Leeds, Wise said: "Ken Bates has made a difference to Leeds.

"He can turn them into another Chelsea.

"He has gone there and given (manager) Kevin Blackwell what he wants. That is good for Leeds - but there is a difference between Leeds and Millwall.

"Leeds can expect crowds of 35,000, whereas we usually get only 9,000 or 10,000 people at the Den. That means we have to work within a certain budget."

Working within a tight budget is an alien concept to Millwall’s next opponents Wigan Athletic, who can rely on Dave Whelan’s money whenever the need to buy a player arises.

A trip to the league leaders on Saturday (kick off 3pm) promises to be a stern test for the young Lions.