Scunthorpe United v Millwall

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Football League One

Scunthorpe United :
Murphy, Mulligan, Crosby, Foster, Ridley, Taylor, Goodwin, MacKenzie, Williams, Sharp, Beckford
Subs not used:
Lillis, Hinds, Butler, Foy, Morris

Millwall :
Pidgeley, Senda, Robinson, Shaw, Craig, Ardley, Elliott, Morris (Zebroski 46), Brighton (Williams 53), Harris, May
Subs not used:
Day, Phillips, Hubertz

SULSESC REPORT

by Neil Wright at Glanford Park

WITH most of the SULSESC membership away in Bonny, Bonny Scotland enjoying the first of Mr. Kerr’s three (that’s THREE!) stag parties – how greedy is that? – it was left to the chairman and myself to attend the League One clash against Millwall at Glanford Park.

After a hassle free drive from Essex, the usual pre-match libation was taken in the Honest Lawyer and it became evident that most of the Pringle wearing strangers found therein were, in fact, Millwall fans in civilian dress.

One thing you wouldn’t expect, though, would be that all of the strangers therein would, in fact, live nowhere near Bermondsey.

The chairman felt very much at home when it became evident that at least six of these eight strangers were residents of the chairman’s very own town of Harlow.

The banter in the Lawyer was good humoured; the consensus being that United would probably manage to scrape through with a win. How right they all were.

After four draws on the bounce and with three teams locked on 52 points, it was certainly important that United got a win to open up a three-point gap and leave the chasing two needing to win their games in hand, both Bristol City and Forest being involved in FA Cup action.

The first-half was scrappy and the first match post-Keogh certainly looked like it was going to end up in a probable 0-0 draw.

The condition of the Glanford Park pitch certainly didn’t help at all and the highlights of the first-half were two efforts from Jermaine Beckford and one from Billy Sharp that forced Millwall ‘keeper Pidgeley into close range saves.

The second-half started brighter and Goodwin finished off a cross from Cleveland after 52 minutes. United were finally ahead. Three minutes later, we were two up with a second goal from Andy ‘I never miss a penalty’ Crosby. Sharpy was bundled over in the box and up stepped the skipper to score from the spot.

Millwall struggled throughout the rest of the match and it was no surprise when United got the third on 79 minutes, this time falling to loanee Jermaine Beckford, a simple five-yard tap in from a MacKenzie cross.

On this second-half performance, and if we can maintain this kind of quality football, then surely automatic promotion is a certainty!