By Paul Green
BILLY Mitchell hopes he has done enough to keep his place in the team after making a welcome return to Millwall’s starting XI at Southampton.
The academy graduate impressed back alongside defensive midfield partner George Saville, the duo frustrating the hosts throughout and inspiring the Lions to arguably their best result of the season.
Mitchell hadn’t started a game in February before Neil Harris resumed control once more following last week’s departure of Joe Edwards.
And although sad to see the former Chelsea coach depart on a personal level, the Lions ace is happy to accept Harris’ return has worked in his favour.
Mitchell told NewsAtDen: “There has been quite a lot of change this year.
“We’ve shifted from manager to manager pretty quickly, from Gary Rowett and then to Adam Barrett, Joe Edwards and now Neil.
“I liked all of them, to be fair. I really did rate Joe as a coach. I thought he would get us playing some good football and I learned a lot from him.
“Obviously I wanted to play. The bottom line as a pro is playing is what you are there to do and I wasn’t in the team, so when there was a change I tried to view that as a potentially positive thing for me.
“Fortunately enough, I went into the team in Neil’s first game and we got a result.”
But the 22-year-old is taking nothing for granted his name will automatically appear on the team sheet again ahead of this weekend’s encounter against Watford.
He added: “There are no givens I will keep my place.
“We’ve got a great squad of players and rotation is obviously very important considering you want to keep things fresh.
“Neil has already said we need to be running a little bit harder than we have done in games prior to his arrival, so I’m aware that I can come out of the team and back in at any time.
“Given that we did win the game at Southampton, I’d like to think I’ve done enough to stay in for Saturday’s match with Watford.”
Harris handed Mitchell his Millwall debut as a 17-year-old in 2019, although he doesn’t have too many memories of the current boss because he departed the club a couple of months later.
“I only played two games under Neil Harris before,” recalls the midfielder.
“One was for 12 minutes, the other was in the League Cup and it was a long time ago when I’d just turned 18. I honestly can’t remember the ins and outs of how he kind of worked.
“I’ll probably be a lot better qualified to answer that question in a couple of weeks!”
He may not have played often during Harris’ first spell but Mitchell feels it is a big plus there are still so many familiar faces from that time at the club right now.
“For me it doesn’t feel so much as if we’ve got a ‘new’ manager,” he explained.
“He is obviously very familiar with the surroundings and there are several people who have played under him before in the squad now.
“It is quite a seamless transition because of that.”
It wasn’t only the importance of the result at St Mary’s which will live long in the memory for Millwall, but the racket created from the first whistle to the post-match celebrations from the almost 2,800 followers who ventured south to Hampshire.
Mitchell joined in the party along with everyone else and says it is an occasion he will always cherish.
He explained: “The away support and the noise they made was probably the best I can ever remember playing for Millwall.
“It really was something else. They didn’t stop singing the whole game.
“Whether that is the new manager factor, or that we got a good result for the first time in a little while, I’m not sure, but they were tremendous.
“The boys thoroughly deserved the reception from the fans afterwards.”
Image: Millwall FC