PHOTO: BBC SPORT
On Friday night Millwall were down to 10 men and beat Norwich City in a 1-0 win over the Canaries.
Millwall secured back-to-back wins for the first time since March and a third win under new head coach Joe Edwards.
After just under a minute, Norwich had a great chance to open the scoring, gifted by some questionable defending by Millwall. Ui-Jo Hwang nearly had the ball in the back of the net, but it was picked up by Matija Sarkic just in time.
Then on 18 minutes, Millwall opened the scoring, Aidomo Emakhu found Brooke Norton-Cuffy on the overlap, he crossed it into the area and Tom Bradshaw got on the end of the cross to tap Millwall home.
A few minutes before the half time whistle blew, Millwall had a fantastic chance to get their second goal of the game. Zian Flemming found the ball at his feet, he took on a shot from a great range but Norwich goalkeeper Angus Gunn made a very decent save to put it out for a Millwall corner that they got nothing from.
The first 15 minutes of the second half was very tasty and entertaining. Firstly, Tom Bradshaw was fouled off the ball, before Ben Gibson appeared to handle the ball but the referee gave nothing and played on. Norwich’s Ashley Barnes should have seen red for more or less flattening Jake Cooper after Cooper elbowed him, but he only received a yellow card with the Millwall vice captain also picking up a booking. Head Coach David Wagner could see Barnes was losing his head so brought him off during a triple substitution for the Canaries. Barnes, Hernandez, and Gibson were all replaced for Idah, Rowe, and Nunez, respectively.
Heading into the final 20 minutes of the game, Norwich were piling on the pressure, and it looked like Millwall needed a second goal to ease it. But Millwall done it the hard way and grinded it out.
Soon after, Aidomo Emakhu and Zian Flemming were replaced by Duncan Watmore and Ryan Longman. Then, Ui-Jo Hwang and Sam McCallum were replaced by Josh Sargent and Przemyslaw Placheta.
With around 8 minutes left of the regulated 90, Millwall summer signing Kevin Nisbet came off the bench for Tom Bradshaw.
Ryan Longman was so close to doubling Millwall’s lead before the end of the game but Angus Gunn made another out of this world save.
With 2 minutes to go before another 6 added on, Northern Irishman George Saville was shown a straight red card after he brought down Jonathan Rowe.
After 6 agonising minutes added on, referee Dean Whitestone blew for full time and Millwall were granted the three points.
Next up for Millwall is Bristol City away on New Years Day and for Norwich City, they are at home to Southampton.
After the game Millwall Head Coach Joe Edwards said “That (The Den’s atmosphere) was a pleasure to be apart of.” and that he was “delighted to get the win.”
Whereas Norwich City Head Coach David Wagner said It was “frustrating, and dissapointing. He said he thought his side “started well in the first 15-20 mins” but they “lacked on the final touch.”
Millwall Team: Sarkic, Wallace, Hutchinson, Cooper, Bradshaw, Flemming, Norton-Cuffy, Leonard, Emakhu, Saville, Honeyman. Subs: Bialkowski, McNamara, Nisbet (83’), Mitchell, Longman (72’), Campbell, Bryan, Watmore (72’), Esse.
Norwich Team: Gunn, Stacey, Stacey, Batth, Gibson, McCallum, Sara, Fassnacht, McLean, Hernandez, Hwang, Barnes. Subs: Long, Hanley, Gibbs, Sargent (78’), Idah (63’), Placheta (77’), Nunez (63’), Rowe (63’), Fisher.
Referee: Dean Whitestone
Attendance: 17,715
Love it Myles. Nice write up