By Jake Sanders
THREE clinical finishes, including a first-half stunner from Ben Thompson, helped Millwall continue their perfect start to pre-season with a routine 3-0 victory over Southend United at Roots Hall on Saturday.
Former Shrimper Ryan Leonard opened the scoring in the 6th minute with a thumping first-time strike into the top right-hand corner after Matt Smith had excellently chested Jake Cooper’s diagonal into his path.
The Lions doubled their advantage 10 minutes before the break when Thompson notched his first goal since Gary Rowett’s first game in charge – acrobatically volleying home from Jiri Skalak’s right-wing cross.
Mason Bennett and Scott Malone, who joined from Derby County on Friday, were both given valuable minutes, but it was another summer signing, Troy Parrott, who completed the scoring with a wonderful deft finish from Murray Wallace’s perfectly-weighted through ball 12 minutes into the second-half for his second goal in as many pre-season outings.
The on loan Tottenham striker almost added to his tally later in the second period, but could only strike a post before Millwall boss Rowett handed more minutes to promising youngsters Hayden Muller and Tyler Burey, whilst goalkeeper Ryan Sandford replaced Bartosz Bialkowski for the remaining 29 minutes at Roots Hall.
Millwall round off pre-season against Crystal Palace at The Den on Tuesday before travelling to League Two Crawley Town for their first competitive game of the 2020-2021 season in the EFL Cup first-round on Saturday.
However, Rowett will be without Parrott, Shane Ferguson and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson for the game at Broadfield Stadium after the trio were all called up by their respective countries – with Bodvarsson in line to face England in Reykjavik in the Nations League on Saturday evening.
Millwall first-half XI: Bialkowski, M.Wallace, Hutchinson, Cooper, Skalak, Thompson, Leonard, Ferguson, Bennett, Mahoney, Smith.
Millwall second-half XI: Bialkowski (Sandford, 61′), M.Wallace, Hutchinson (Muller, 73′), Cooper (Pearce, 61′), Skalak, (Brown, 73′), Leonard, Williams, Malone, J. Wallace, Bradshaw, Parrott (Burey, 76′).
Subs not used: Tiensia.