THE last thing Millwall probably need when they’re trying to correct their away form is to meet one of their bogey teams.
The Lions, who have won only three times on their travels this season, face a Blackburn Rovers side they have beaten only once in their last 12 meetings.
At least that was fairly recently, 1-0 at home in July 2020.
You have to go back to November 2012 for Millwall’s last league victory at Ewood Park, when Chris Wood and James Henry scored in a 2-0 win for Kenny Jackett’s side in the Championship.
The Lions have beaten Stoke City, Barnsley and Coventry City this season. Their away form is the main reason why they have struggled to stay in top-six contention.
But the Lions should be in confident mood going to Lancashire. After a difficult start to 2022 when they lost three successive league games, Gary Rowett’s side have won three and drawn one of their last five.
Millwall produced arguably their best performance of the season last time out in the 2-0 win against QPR.
They scored two brilliantly worked goals and their intensity over 90 minutes impressed the manager.
“To be completely honest I wondered at half-time if we would have enough intensity in the team to keep going,” Rowett said. “The first half at times was incredible the way we pressed and the way we ran. That was our biggest challenge.
“The players, I felt, dug in when we needed to, got our shape when we needed to, got a breather when we needed to. And then we showed a little bit of quality in transitions to take the game away from QPR.
“That was probably one of the parts I was most impressed with tonight, the way we kept going and the way we kept running.
“It was a huge factor in limiting QPR to very little.”
Millwall were without an out-and-out striker against the Hoops. When Oliver Burke went off injured Tyler Burey came on and formed a dynamic front three with Mason Bennett and Jed Wallace.
Bennett and Burey scored, with Wallace getting a pre-assist for Bennett’s goal after a superb pass to Scott Malone. Wallace then flicked the ball through his legs to set up Burey after another slick Millwall move.
Rowett added: “I thought they interacted really well. We haven’t got an out-and-out striker up there but it shows if the movement is good and the interplay is good then we’ve got lots and lots of pace to cause teams problems.
“I was really pleased with that tonight.”
Benik Afobe, Luke Freeman and Burke have been added to the injury list, but Daniel Ballard is pushing for a start.
Rovers’ 20-goal top-scorer Ben Brereton Diaz is set to be out after he twisted his ankle in the 0-0 draw against West Brom on Monday.
Tony Mowbray is also expected to be without Daniel Ayala, Deyovaisio Zeefuik, Tayo Edun, Ian Poveda and Dilan Markanday.
Millwall nemesis Bradley Dack has returned to under-23 action but Rovers won’t rush him back as he recovers from a second ACL injury.
Possible Millwall starting XI: 5-2-3: Bialkowski; McNamara, Hutchinson, Cooper, M Wallace, Malone; Mitchell, Kieftenbeld; J Wallace, Bennett, Burey.
Match odds: Rovers 6/5 Draw 12/5 Millwall 7/5
Last meeting: Championship (August 14, 2021): Millwall 1-1 Rovers (J Wallace 64; Brereton Diaz 76).
Image: Millwall FC