Hammers in for hiding?

By Stephen 18
November 18 2004

A repeat of last season's 4-1 win over West Ham would go donw well! But this time around West Ham have got Teddy Sheringham making a controversial return to the Den, but are weakened by the return of Calum Davenport to Spurs.

Ray Wilkins wants Millwall to produce a repeat of last season’s convincing victory over West Ham and give their derby rivals another ‘good hiding’ this Sunday.

The Lions take on the east London club in the noon showdown with the 4-1 win in the corresponding fixture last March still fresh in the memory.
And though Millwall’s assistant manager concedes that a similar result is unlikely, he believes that the glut of strikers at boss Dennis Wise’s disposal could give them the cutting edge they need to produce another unforgettable occasion.

“As far as we’re concerned anyone who comes here will be in for a tough game, and West Ham are no exception,” Wilkins told the ‘News’.

“I’m sure our lads are really looking forward to this one. We were very unfortunate on Saturday not to win at Preston, and we’ve got to start putting the ball in the back of the net, and there’s no better time to start than on Sunday against West Ham.

“They were disappointing against Brighton on Saturday and they’re going to want to win games. West Ham is a big club, no matter what anybody says. They’re averaging 31,000 people every Saturday, so it’s a massive club and a massive game for us.

“So Sunday’s encounter is very, very important and hopefully it will be the turning point where we do start to score goals and start to win games.

“It would be nice to give someone a good hiding because we win games by one goal and not often by more than that.

“So it would be nice to get hold of them and give them a bit of a battering, but I wouldn’t have thought that would be the case.

“They’ll come here very cagey and will make it very difficult for us, but the onus is upon us to get after them and attack them and this is what we’re going to do.”

The main cause for optimism as Millwall approach the game is the strikers Wise and Wilkins now have at their disposal.

Wilkins added: “Danny Dichio and Paul Ifill are back, Neil Harris isn’t far away either, so we’re gradually getting our squad together, not forgetting Peter Sweeney.

“They are nearly all fit now. If we keep them all fit, I’m sure we will start to score a bundle of goals.

“Once we get the competition for places up front we are going to turn the corner, but we have created a number of chances in the last couple of games we’ve played, and that’s the positive to come out of this.

“Strikers are the people who turn football matches for you. It’s a team effort but they are there to put the ball in the back of the net.

“If two of them aren’t doing it, I’m sure Dennis would have no hesitation in taking them off and putting the next two on or adding another one to it because we have an abundance of very good forward players.”

Ifill and Dichio both came through the 90 minutes in Tuesday afternoon’s 1-1 draw with Northampton reserves at the Den.

“Paul Ifill in particular looked sharp”, said Wilkins. “With the stature of Danny it will take a little bit more time than Paul, and I would certainly imagine Dennis would use both guys on Sunday.”