Report | Millwall 1-0 Argyle
Argyle’s inability to score on their travels came back to haunt them again as the Pilgrims lost 1-0 at Millwall on Wednesday night.
A goal after 13 minutes from Millwall’s Romain Esse was the nominal difference between the two sides in an even first half, but after the break the home side’s comfort with their one-goal lead grew, and in truth Argyle never really laid a glove on their hosts, who jumped above the Greens with the victory.
Following the previous Saturday’s 5-0 defeat at Cardiff City, Wayne Rooney reacted by making three changes. One was imposed upon him, with the absence of the suspended Ibrahim Cissoko, but the decision of who to play wide on the left was not a simple one for Rooney. He chose Mustapha Bundu but had several options to select from.
One may have been Callum Wright, who still made the starting line-up, but did as a replacement for Rami Al Hajj. The third change was Ryan Hardie, coming in as the central striker in place of Michael Obafemi.
The midfield was completed by Adam Randell and Darko Gyabi, while the defensive line of Bali Mumba, Lewis Gibson, Kornel Szucs and Joe Edwards, in front of Daniel Grimshaw, remained unchanged.
Talk about an explosive start to the game, particularly for two of the players brought into the side. Basically from the kick-off, Wright got around the back of the right side of Millwall’s defence and played the ball into Bundu. The latter could not get a shot away, but the ball rebounded back to him, and he went down.
Referee Sam Allison pondered, and pointed to the spot, but he was then alerted to an assistant’s flag, raised for an offside call. There was, though, a question over whether or not the ball came off a Millwall player before reaching Bundu the second time.
This, by the way, was all in the first 30 seconds of the game.
Argyle started the game brightly, showing a verve and bite in their step that was absent on the weekend, but the Greens still fell behind on 13 minutes, from Millwall’s first potent attack.
Esse won the ball near the halfway line, capitalising on Mumba’s slip, and the Lions were away. Esse approached the area and offloaded to his right to George Honeyman. Honeyman’s cutback returned the ball to Esse, and he drove low, through recovering bodies, into the net.
Argyle looked to react with a nice move down the right in which Edwards sent in a cross for Hardie, who headed on target but saw his shot pouched by Lukas Jensen in the home goal.
There were precious few chances for the remainder of the first half, but it was not a dull watch. Both sides were looking to press and play with intensity. At times it meant they cancelled each other out, keeping goalscoring opportunities at a premium, but oddly they never felt too far away either.
On 40 minutes, Argyle worked the ball well, through Wright’s initial blocked shot, back to Whittaker, who whistled a low deflected effort wide. From the corner, a neat exchange, reminiscent of the goal scored at Swansea City last season, saw Whittaker get into another shooting position, but his effort was blocked.
Shortly afterwards, Femi Azeez had one shot from the edge of the box that went wide, then a header easily saved by Grimshaw, as Millwall sought a second before the interval.
It did not come at that point, but it probably should have in the 51st minute. Japhet Tanganga played a ball through which Azeez, with ease, ran on to. What followed was Azeez not truly striking a couple of efforts, but seemingly doing enough to creep closer to the goal-line, then just as he looked about to shovel the ball over the line, Edwards appeared and hooked away to safety.
Just after the hour mark, Rooney made three changes, bringing off Wright, Bundu and Hardie, replacing them with Rami Al Hajj, Freddie Issaka and, for his Argyle debut, Andre Gray.
Millwall went close shortly afterwards, former Pilgrim Ryan Leonard shooting into a crowd following a partially cleared corner, and probably wondering how it did not take the necessary deflection to divert goalwards, instead fizzing wide.
The second half had essentially turned into a non-event. Millwall were protecting their single-goal lead and holding Argyle at arm’s length. Chances for a precious equaliser never truly materialised.
In the final stages, deep into injury time, Argyle’s best chance appeared, as Jensen fumbled a Randell corner, but Gibson’s effort was charged down and Issaka’s follow-up flew over.
Argyle: 31 Daniel Grimshaw, 2 Bali Mumba, 6 Kornel Szucs, 8 Joe Edwards (capt), 9 Ryan Hardie (19 Andre Gray, 62), 10 Morgan Whittaker, 11 Callum Wright (28 Rami Al Hajj, 62), 15 Mustapha Bundu (35 Freddie Issaka, 62), 17 Lewis Gibson, 18 Darko Gyabi (14 Michael Obafemi, 80), 20 Adam Randell. Substitutes: 25 Marko Marosi (gk), 3 Nathanael Ogbeta, 4 Jordan Houghton, 27 Adam Forshaw, 44 Victor Palsson.
Booked: Szucs 63
Millwall: 1 Lukas Jensen, 5 Jake Cooper (capt), 6 Japhet Tanganga, 11 Femi Azeez (14 Ryan Wintle, 70), 15 Joe Bryan, 18 Ryan Leonard, 23 George Saville, 24 Casper De Norre (16 Danny Kelly, 78), 25 Romain Esse (2 Danny McNamara, 83), 26 Mihailo Ivanovic (17 Macaulay Langstaff,, 78), 39 George Honeyman. Substitutes: 13 Liam Roberts (gk), 3 Murray Wallace, 22 Aidomo Emakho, 44 Alfie Massey, 45 Wes Harding.
Goals: Esse 13
Booked: Honeyman 8, Azeez 45, Saville 58, Cooper 76, Bryan 84
Referee: Sam Allison
Attendance: 13,954
