MILLWALL returned to winning ways in the league on Saturday, with an impressive 3-1 victory at Northampton Town.
Next up, it’s the visit of Bolton Wanderers. NewsAtDen spoke to Lion of Vienna Suite’s Dan Murphy for the lowdown.
Name: Daniel Murphy, of lionofviennasuite.com
Twitter: @Murbroski
What made you support Bolton?: Well, I’m from a family of Manchester United fans, so it was all a mad stroke of luck/bad luck that I ended up supporting Bolton. A close family friend was unable to make the first day of the 2006/07 season, against Tottenham Hotspur, and so they gave us their season tickets and we went in their place. Within 10 minutes Kevin Davies had scored a trademark header and Ivan Campo had blasted in a shot from 40-yards. From that moment on I was hooked.
After a superb start, the Trotters have stuttered recently. Why is that? Was the fast start expected by fans?: I’m not sure Bolton fans expect anything good to happen these days, but we all certainly hoped for a brief respite from the constant, overwhelming awfulness of last season. As you say, the Whites started really well, winning their first four games, and then conspired to not win for seven. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why our form changed so drastically, but I’d guess that our awful finishing and losing the creativity of Mark Davies for the season probably contribute quite heavily towards it.
You have a plethora of ex-Millwall players among your ranks – James Henry, Liam Trotter, Mark Beevers to name a few. How have they been getting on?: Mark Beevers is bloody excellent, a fine centre-back who is pretty much a man-of-the-match contender for every single game and is already universally generic lexapro 20 mg loved by Wanderers supporters. He’s dominant, strong, quick, smart – it really is a wonder that no Championship clubs went in for him.
The other ex-Millwall lot aren’t fairing too well. Chris Taylor is up there with the worst players I’ve ever seen wear the shirt; Liam Trotter, despite his efforts, is just largely ineffective, and James Henry has not had the impact that we all thought he would yet.
After a good start, the Lions have slid down the table in recent weeks. Do you expect them to be up the top of the league (with Bolton) come May?: I did at the start of the season, largely because I know next to nothing about League One, and still believe you have enough in the squad to be at least in the play-offs when May swings around. However, you’re currently so far away from the pack that it may be difficult to catch up with the front runners in order to challenge for automatic places.
Barring those ex-Millwall men, which other Bolton players should we be watching out for? Likewise, which Lions players will you keep an eye on?: After a rough patch in form Bolton have now won two league games on the bounce, keeping two clean sheets, and everything is looking slightly more rosy again. Young starlet Zach Clough is threatening to reach his best form again after scoring both goals in a 2-0 win against Oldham on Saturday, a confidence boost that the skillful attackers desperately needed. There’s also Jay Spearing, who is dominating midfields in League One this season.
Finally, a score prediction?: I’m unsure, but I’m going to say Bolton will edge it. Millwall 0-1 Bolton Wanderers.