Millwall.
Millwall away. Olé olé. I said last season that a trip to the New Den must be endured, and that fact remains. I’ve now been to the New Den a total of ten times. I can’t lie, it’s one of my favourite away days, not least because it’s another trip to London.
The legendary Ben from the Women of Steel substack said that after the brilliant win last week against Ipswich, he was enjoying having a “nothing season”, and I completely agree. So, I was viewing this as more of a day out and promised myself I wouldn’t get too upset about the performance and/or result. (Let’s see.)
Pre-match.
5am start for a 6.30am train. Love it. However, leaving your meticulous away-day plans in the hands of the mostly useless UK railway network is always a gamble, and with planned engineering works meaning no seat reservations, the day was already off to an inauspicious start. But, OG Sam had played a blinder and secured some first class tickets, so the five of us would be travelling down in style at least. Bougie as fuck.
Arriving in London mega-early, we headed for breakfast. I’m not normally a breakfast person, instead preferring to test and stretch my caffeine tolerance levels in a morning, rather than eating something nutritious, but with it also being OG Sam’s birthday, it felt like the right day to treat myself.
The usual London away-day pub tour followed. I very rarely drink these days, but the two M&S piña coladas on the train (bougie, I warned you) had gone down a treat, and I committed myself to sampling the Big Smoke’s alcohol offering. With the City of London our area of choice, the delightful Lamb Tavern, The Ship, and The Wheatsheaf were our pre-match watering holes. All ten out of ten.
As we headed over to the sold-out Den, with the fan zone ticked off once we got there, I soon remembered why I love this away day; it’s just a proper football ground.
“It’s just… a lot of liquid.”
The match.
Both sides started brightly, and while chances came at both ends in the opening minutes, it was United who struck first. Midfield maestro Gus Hamer superbly won the ball in the Lions’ midfield and fed boy-wonder André Brooks out wide. Brooks ran at his man, side stepped, and smashed the ball smartly into the bottom corner. 0–1, United. Sublime. Absolute delirium in the away end, too.
The lead didn’t last long. No sooner had we finished celebrating, the home team were level. A wide Millwall free kick was pounced on by centre-half Caleb Taylor, who nodded the ball to the back of the box, and Mihailo Ivanović took full advantage of a static United defence to guide the ball in off the post. 1–1. Bugger.
The half continued with both sides scrapping and probing for a second, before being soured by United left-back Sam McCallum going down injured after clearing the ball. I didn’t see exactly what happened, but he was in real distress, and was then stretchered off after a long delay. It looked a proper nasty one.
The Millwall fans’ callous reaction to the injured United defender left a bad taste in the mouth, and it added an extra edge to what had been a competitive, gritty contest.
United, undeterred by the delay, nearly did regain the lead before the break, Brooks again involved, turning provider for striker Tom Cannon. His shot was saved, and Callum O’Hare couldn’t make the rebound count. It was a real shame, as any of those three would’ve deserved to put us back in front.
Half-time then arrived with the game level, and whilst it had been a full blooded affair, it hadn’t exactly been a classic.
“We bring a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ to proceedings!”
The second half followed a similar pattern. Millwall again focused their play down the right through winger Femi Azeez, while United also threatened themselves down our right, through soon-to-be Player of the Match Brooks, who was running himself into the ground.
United were determined not to let Millwall settle into any sort of sustained possession, opting instead for long balls and percentage football. It had been an arduous watch, but the Blades did have a couple of decent chances that flashed across the box, both created by substitute Harrison Burrows (on for the injured McCallum).
As the game entered the closing stages, Millwall pushed and United continued to lose second balls and drop deeper and deeper, and I’ll be honest, the away end braced itself for the inevitable. But it never came. The game finished level.
“Will that make it into the blog, Ty?!”
Post-game.
It’s been a long, long time since the Blades drew a game away from home, but given Millwall’s home record and current form, it felt like a really decent point.
After recent away performances, it was also refreshing to see a more solid, disciplined approach, too. We didn’t sparkle, or spoil their day like I’d hoped, but after the miles we’ve clocked up lately, it was nice not to come away from an away game completely deflated.
I was really impressed by Tom Cannon and the Duracell bunny that is Callum O’Hare today. Both had thankless tasks (Cannon battling the man-mountain Jake Cooper, and O’Hare trying to make things happen with minimal midfield support), and if this season really is almost over, then keeping hold of those two feels crucial for next season if we want to push on. Brooks, too.
The journey home was long, and with the usual standard-class seats on the way back (and some moronic, obnoxiously loud single-cell amoebas sharing our carriage) meant our bougie morning was now a distant memory. Still, back in Sheffield well before 10pm, our attentions had then firmly turned to the rearranged home game in four days’ time.
Next up in the away-day odyssey: Portsmouth.
See you there.
Great work as always pal! Hoping to either get too Pompey or QPR (more realistic).. Pompey in the bucket list!