ALEX Neil guaranteed Millwall would “absolutely leave everything on the pitch” against West Ham United on Saturday.
The Lions take on their London rivals at The Den this weekend in the first Dockers Derby since 2012, following the Hammers’ relegation to the Championship. The match will be the 100th competitive meeting between the two clubs.
“It should be a brilliant atmosphere,” Neil said. “It means a lot to our fans and everybody connected with both clubs.
“For me and the players, it means absolutely everything because it’s such an important game for everyone.
“We’re not in our best situation at the moment, but like we showed tonight, we are capable of going and playing against good teams and getting results. I don’t think that the weekend’s going to be any different than that.
“It’ll be interesting to see how West Ham handle The Den and different things like that, and hopefully the atmosphere’s very good.
“What I will guarantee is our lads will leave absolutely everything on the pitch as they always do. I thought they did that tonight. You could see them all cramping up and falling over, and we had to take a lot of them off and put young lads on to try and see the game out. We’ll be ready.”
The Lions currently have the advantage in the derby, having won 38 games to West Ham’s 34, with 27 draws. The Hammers won the last encounter 2-1 at Upton Park.
Neil does not plan to underplay the occasion to his squad.
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“When a game like that means so much to your fan base, there is always extra importance,” Neil said. “You can’t help that from happening, so there’s no point in me trying to talk the game down.
“The game is what it is. There’s not been a lot of them of late, and what it means is when you do play, it means that there’s going to be a lot of focus on it. There’s going to be a lot of tension on it. There’s going to be a lot of passion in the game.
“What we need to make sure is the fact that we’re at it. We’ve got a lot of passion. We show the fight that the fans deserve and desire, but equally that you’ve got a cool head when you’re on the pitch, and you do the right things, and you don’t let it boil over, and you make sure you try and do what we need to do to try and get a result from the game.”
