Our travels end at the Den

Last updated : 21 April 2006 By Tony Scholes
David Livermore
That 0-0 draw last season brought the season to an end and left Millwall in tenth place with 66 points, just four points less than this season's champions Reading and only a point behind Sheffield United.

But as those two clubs moved to the top so Millwall have moved to the bottom in a season of complete turmoil with changes of manager and/or chairman happening just as often as winning a game.

Yesterday saw manager number four depart since we were last there and tomorrow Alan McLeary and Tony Burns will be in temporary charge as David Tuttle follows Wise, Claridge and Lee out of the Den.

Their fate was sealed on Monday, with Sheffield Wednesday's win at Brighton, and after five years Millwall will return to League One football next season along with also relegated Crewe and Brighton.

Relegation has been on the cards throughout the season and they haven't held a place outside the bottom three since September, when a run of six games without defeat came to an end. There was a short run of four unbeaten games around Christmas but even that didn't lift them out of the relegation places.

They played at Burnley on the first day of November, at a time when we were in our best form of the season. They scored in the first minute through Jermaine Wright but, in what was a controversial game, four players were sent off and we turned it round to win 2-1.

There's never really been an aftermath of that game but two of the red carded Millwall players vehemently denied the accusations of referee Richard Beeby but had to serve their suspensions without appeal.

Colin Lee was manager then, but by Christmas Tuttle had taken over and he strengthened the squad with the signing of Den Bosch striker Berry Powel in January for a fee of £125,000. He's been the only permanent signing but since our Turf Moor meeting their have been a number of loan signings.

Four of them remain at the Den. They are Liverpool's American defender Zak Whitbread, Birmingham keeper Colin Doyle. Tottenham's Phil Ifill and Jamie Vincent who left the Den in January for Yeovil but returned in March on loan.

It's not helped their cause and they go into what is their last home game having collected just one point from their last four games and having had their relegation confirmed.

Click HERE to see all Millwall's results this season.

Team News

McLeary and Burns won't have it too easy when it comes to selecting the side. Jody Morris and Barry Hayles were already ruled out but now Alan Dunne has fractured a cheekbone, David Livermore could miss out with an ankle injury whilst Carl Asaba might not be fit enough to return from a hamstring injury.

Livermore could be removed from the side in any case after publicly criticising the board this week following the departure of Tuttle.

They are expected to line up: Colin Doyle, Matt Lawrence, Mark Phillips, Zak Whitbread, Tony Craig, Ben May, Marvin Elliott, Barry Cogan, Marvin Williams, Kevin Braniff, Berry Powel. Subs from: Andy Marshall, Paul Robinson, Jamie Vincent, Alan Brooks, Paul Ifill, David Livermore.

Click HERE to see the full Millwall squad.

Phil Bardsley's ankle injury looks set to rule him out of a second match and Michael Ricketts, who has missed the last two games, could also be struggling to be fit in time. Besides the two loan players Chris McCann is also a doubt with the hamstring injury that forced him off just before half time in the game against Crystal Palace.

It looks as though none of them will be fit enough to be in the starting line up and so the likely team is the one that played over half of the 0-0 draw against Palace, including Kyle Lafferty who came on for McCann.

Our expected line up is: Brian Jensen, Frank Sinclair, Michael Duff, John McGreal, Jon Harley, Alan Mahon, James O'Connor, Micah Hyde, Graham Branch, Andy Gray, Kyle Lafferty. Subs: Duane Courtney, Danny Karbassiyoon, Garreth O'Connor, John Spicer, Wade Elliott.

Last Time

We ended last season at the Den in what was a goalless draw in a game where neither side had anything to play for. Burnley came the nearest when we were awarded a penalty that but Micah Hyde's kick was saved.

For more of this and other games at the Den, see Honours even in this particular Lions Den which is in our look back section.

The teams last May were,

Millwall: Graham Stack, Kevin Muscat (Mark Quigley 86), Darren Ward, Matt Lawrence, Mark Phillips, Marvin Elliott, Peter Sweeney, Jody Morris (Dennis Wise 69), David Livermore, Paul Ifill, Ben May (Bob Peeters 56). Subs not used: Josh Simpson, Paul Robinson.

Burnley: Danny Coyne, Michael Duff, Gary Cahill, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal, Mo Camara, Micah Hyde, Tony Grant, James O'Connor, Ade Akinbiyi, Graham Branch. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Lee Roche, Dean Bowditch, John Oster, Jean-Louis Valois.

Previous 20 Seasons

Season

Div

Ven

Result

Att

Scorers

1994/95

1

a

3-2

7,375

Winstanley(2) Robinson

.

.

h

1-2

10,454

Shaw

1996/97

2

a

1-2

9,281

Nogan

..

h

1-0

9,840

Weller

1997/98

2

h

1-2

8,834

Cooke

.

.

a

0-1

7,582

.

1998/99

2

h

2-1

8,526

Cooke(2)

..

a

2-1

7,407

Cooke Davis

1999/2000

2

a

1-1

8,601

Cooke

.

.

h

4-3

14,890

Cox Cooke Davis Cook

2001/02

1

a

2-0

11,903

Ian Moore Alan Moore

..

h

0-0

16,131

.

2002/03

1

h

2-2

11,878

West Ian Moore

.

.

a

1-1

6,045

Ian Moore

2003/04

1

h

1-1

10,435

Ian Moore

.

FAC

a

0-1

10,420

.

.

1

a

0-2

10,148

.

2004/05

1

h

1-0

11,471

Blake(pen)

.

.

a

0-0

12,171

.

2005/06

C

h

2-1

10,698

Dyer Elliott

Click HERE to see all our results against Millwall starting with a 2-0 win in 1930.