Millwall 3  Leeds 1

Leeds went down to another away defeat at the New Den yesterday, and although we took the lead, in truth the home side managed to dominate the game from the start.

Much of the credit was down to Millwall stalwart Neil Harris, who is now three short of being Millwall’s all-time top goalscorer. Harris’first spell at the New Den was terminated by a certain Dennis Wise despite his brave fightback from testicular cancer, but the Millwall fans are delighted to see him back at the age of 31, even though he only played in this game through the enforced absence of Kandol.

Leeds named an unchanged side and I was surprised to see that Robinson didn’t even get a place on the bench, as I thought he’d looked very determined in his last couple of appearances. And it was even more surprising that a midfield containing Hughes and Douglas could be overrun by a Millwall side that looked more determined throughout the game.

The hosts made their intentions clear right from the start, when Abou made a couple of strong challenges on the creative parts of our midfield, Delph and Kilkenny, and David Martin created the best two chances in the first half hour. First he went down in the box after a decent run without impressing the referee, then he sent in a shot that wasn’t far wide of the post.

So when Leeds took the lead in the 31^st. minute it was a little bit against the run of play. A long ball downfield to Hughes was touched on to Becchio, who turned and sent a curling shot from 30 yards, past Forde into the corner of the net. But it only took the home side six minutes to draw level, after the first telling contribution from Neil Harris.

Harris collected the ball by the corner flag and threaded a clever pass between Lubo and Frazer to find Martin, who was able to move into the area unchallenged to lift the ball over the advancing over the advancing Lucas. So we went into half time with the score being my pre-match prediction of 1-1, and I thought that if it stayed that way it wouldn’t be a bad result in one of our more difficult away fixtures.

But after half time there was more of the same, with ‘Wall continuing to enjoy the Lions share of the possession. They were in front in the 59^th. minute through that man Harris when he met a Laird’s long cross from Millwall’s left touchline, getting in front of Becchio to send a glancing header past Lucas into the far corner of the net. Mc.Allister responded by sending Showumni and Snodgrass into the fray in and effort to get back into the game, and we did create one or two openings, with Forde having to race off his line when Delph was about to set Showunmi up for a decent chance.

But we were finally killed off in the 88^th minute by a goal that was an absolute shambles defensively. White’s backpass was far too weak, and when Lucas had to make a sliding tackle to take the ball when he was challenged by a Millwall forward,        the loose ball went straight to Harris, who placed it into the net from a narrow angle.

So we dropped below Millwall into fifth place, and we’re in danger of losing touch with Leicester and Scunthorpe for the automatic promotion places. This was our third consecutive away defeat in all competitions, and although we keep winning at home, we have to start picking up points on our travels as well, before it’s too late.

Photo: Action Images

Blackpool Polls