MILLWALL’S Elite Development Squad boss Justin Skinner praised his youngsters and trialists after their 2-1 win against Dulwich Hamlet on Saturday.
With the first-team squad playing away at Crawley Town, Skinner named a young team at Champion Hill. Harry Smith, who has attracted attention from a number of Football League clubs after his goal-scoring form with Folkestone Invicta, started on the bench.
When the 6ft 6ins striker did get on with 30 minutes to go he impressed, playing a part in former Rangers player Mekhi McLeod’s 75th-minute winner.
“I think he did alright,” Skinner said. “He came on for the last 30 minutes so it’s always difficult to get into the swing of the game.
“But you can see he’s got good attributes. He had a hand in the second goal, being the man on the edge of the box to set it up.
“It’s very difficult to come into our set-up when you don’t really know how we play.
“But saying that, there were three trialists out there and they certainly did as well as I expected them to.”
The game did not start well for Millwall as Daniel Carr put Dulwich ahead from the penalty spot after 15 minutes. Alfie Pavey equalised for the Lions at the end of the first half before Mekhi completed the turnaround.
“I knew it was going to be a tough game, coming here,” Skinner admitted.
“(Dulwich manager) Gavin (Rose) and (assistant) Junior (Kadi) have been here a long time now and they know what they want to play and how they want to play it.
“There was a first-team game at Crawley (Saturday) so we knew it was going to be a bit younger but I was really pleased with the youngsters.
“Everyone on that pitch knew their job and how hard they had to work and that’s just the principle that we have in our club.”
Meanwhile, first-team boss Neil Harris confirmed Smith could be involved against Dover on Tuesday night.
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