Robbed!

By Jr
October 23 2004

"We was robbed" as they say in football parlance by Cardiff City and the referee. Three points down the drain thanks to this inept performance by an official. No one likes us, we don't care...but it cost us a couple of points, didn't it?

A controversial goal denied Millwall all three points last Saturday against a Cardiff City side that rode their luck to get a 2-2 draw.

Lions assistant manager Ray Wilkins is usually very reluctant to berate match officials, but even he had to admit that referee Howard Webb may have been wrong not to rule out Cardiff’s second goal.

Bluebirds striker Alan Lee appeared to wrestle Millwall keeper Graham Stack to the ground before nodding in a corner from close range in the 68th minute to put the visitors 2-1 up.

Wilkins said: “The referee will blow for a free-kick in 99.9% of those situations but he made the decision that he thought was right and we have to live with that.”

Millwall bounced back with a headed goal from substitute Neil Harris, who equalled Teddy Sheringham’s long-standing league goalscoring record for Millwall with his equaliser.

Like Sheringham, Harris’ 93 goals has taken 7 seasons to achieve, but now he’s off the mark in this campaign perhaps they’ll be many more to come.

Alan Dunne provided the cross for Harris’ goal, capping a good footballing week for the youngster.

Playing on the right side of midfield, Dunne impressed against Gillingham last Tuesday night scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 victory.

It was Dunne’s first goal for the club.

Also opening his account for the Lions on that night was Barry Hayles, who drove a ferocious left footed strike home to put Millwall in front.

Against Cardiff however, it was his strike partner Jo Tessem, who grabbed the limelight - tapping home Harris’ low cross for the first equaliser - after Millwall had fallen behind to a Gary O’Neil goal.

Besides setting up Millwall’s first equaliser and scoring Millwall’s second, Harris made a significant contribution with his overall play.

Considering he was playing out of position on the left hand side of midfield as a replacement for the withdrawn Josh Simpson, it was no mean achievement.

On Harris’ goal, Wilkins said: “He probably won’t score a finer header in his career.”

Had Mr Webb ruled out Lee’s goal, Harris’ strike would have been a worthy winner for Millwall.

Wilkins reflected on what might have been, after the match, as he said: "We showed lots of resilience but we are not too happy with the goals we conceded - although they got away with their second goal.

"We are relatively strong at home and the way we have been going lately I felt we could have got three points.

“I think we are a better team than Cardiff but it wasn't to be."

Though four points and four goals from two games seems an ample return from a formerly misfiring forward-line, now further challenges await the back-in-form Lions.

After a televised midweek home match in the Carling Cup against Liverpool, Millwall head north to take on Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday (kick off 3pm).