One side performed in Hampshire at the home of Basingstoke, going down narrowly by three goals to two, whilst the other one travelled to Sussex to tackle Crawley, and emerged 2-0 winners thanks to striker Barry Hayles’ double. The reason for the double-take was the advent of the Remembrance Cup for the former fixture, and a lack of availability for Sunday.
Talking to the club’s official website, www.millwallfc.co.uk, manager Steve Claridge bemoaned the situation: “Ideally I’d have liked to play one of these games on the Saturday and the other on the Sunday as I can’t be in two places at once. In addition, we haven’t got the biggest squad of experienced pros at the moment so it is difficult to send some to one place and some to the other. But we’ll do our best and look forward to two competitive games.”
The Remembrance Cup at Basingstoke was held in the memory of eight supporters who died in a road accident there on the way to a match against Southampton in 1978. Former Chelsea starlet and England Under-21 international Jody Morris and Don Hutchison were probably the two biggest names on show in that clash, but the Lions still went down 3-2. Also in the team was ex-Southend trialist John Sutton.
Sergio Torin opened the scoring for the hosts before Mark Peters doubled the advantage. Worse was to follow for Millwall as Trevor Robinson was injured less than half-an-hour into the match, but his replacement Ross Gaynor did manage to pull one goal back before the break.
Hutchison was withdrawn at half-time having suffered with a lack of fitness over the past couple of seasons, and as the Lions pressed on for an equaliser, Peters’ second virtually sealed the match. However, Morris managed to bag another for the away side, and ‘Stoke had to work had in the closing stages to take home the memorial trophy.
Team: Lance Cronin, Jack MacLeod, Jack Obersteller, Jody Morris, Paul Robinson, Michael Bostwick, Marvin Williams (McDonnell 65), Don Hutchison (Will Hendry 46), Bob Peeters, John Sutton, Trevor Robinson (Ross Gaynor 27).
Meanwhile, further south, a second Millwall XI were faring much better at Broadfield Stadium. This team included such luminaries as Andy Marshall, Matthew Lawrence, Marvin Elliott, new signing from Swindon Town Sammy Igoe, David Livermore and Barry Hayles. There was also a debut from the substitutes’ bench for young defender Dean Pooley.
It was a much more experienced name who netted the first goal after just three minutes. Hayles lobbed home the rebound after former Lions goalkeeper Phil Smith had parried out his initial effort. Hayles and strike partner Ben May then went close to adding a second in the opening stages of the match.
When Crawley did break forward, it was through ex-Shrimpers loanee Daniel Marney, who linked up with Blues whilst with Brighton & Hove Albion. He has since moved along the coast, and he forced Marshall to make two good saves. May and Elliott were keeping Smith in check at the other end.
An early goal in the second period effectively sealed the game in front of 1,593 fans. Igoe made the strike, nodding the ball into Hayles’ path for the forward to slam a volley into the back of the net. Millwall saw through the final forty minutes without further incident, building on a 4-0 triumph at Fisher Athletic earlier in the week.
Team: Andy Marshall, Matthew Lawrence, Mark Phillips (Dean Pooley 72), Tony Craig, Barry Cogan, Marvin Elliott, Sammy Igoe, David Livermore, Josh Simpson, Ben May, Barry Hayles (Kevin Braniff 81). Subs not used: Tommy Crowther, Curtis Weston.
Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com