The long and winding road takes us to Millwall
Last year ended with the relative short trip to Stoke but tonight the marathon journey continues with our re-arranged league game against Millwall at the Den.
It really has been an incredible start to 2023 in terms of travelling with visits already made to Swansea, Bournemouth, Ipswich, Norwich and Luton. Including tonight’s trip, that’s not too far short of 3,000 miles covered if travelling from Burnley.
But it’s been an enjoyable few weeks with the highlight of those trips coming at Norwich two and a half weeks ago when we blew them away with a 3-0 win. Norwich were just outside the play-off positions when we went there; Luton were fourth ahead of kick off last Saturday and still are, tonight we face another difficult game against a side pushing for a place in that top six.
Millwall are currently seventh with 49 points, just one point behind Luton, but they are on their home ground tonight and it is at the Den where their push for promotion is likely to be won or lost. They are currently fourth in the table based on home form but as low as seventeenth on away results.
Twice they’ve been beaten at the Den but both were in the earlier weeks of the season. Reading won there 1-0 in August with QPR recording a 2-0 victory in September. But their home record is impressive. They’ve won nine times and that includes victories against Middlesbrough, Watford, West Brom and, most recently, Sheffield United who they beat last Saturday just as we were arriving in Luton.
Like us, they have some injury issues with Billy Mitchell having been added to an injury list that already included Mason Bennett, Shaun Hutchinson, Tyler Burey and former Burnley junior player Callum Styles who is with the Lions on loan from Barnsley.
On the positive side, Jamie Shackleton turned in an outstanding performance against Sheffield United having returned to the side and manager Gary Rowett will also have Ryan Leonard, Romain Esse, Duncan Watmore, Scott Malone and George Honeyman available, players who were on the bench for that recent game.
Tom Bradshaw is very much one player to keep an eye on. He became the first Championship player to hit a second hat-trick this season when he netted all three in the win against Sheffield United having previously scored all three in the 3-0 win against Watford in October. He’s now their leading scorer with ten goals, one more than Zian Flemming.
Millwall’s team for that win last Saturday was: George Long, Dan McNamara, Charlie Cresswell, Jake Cooper, Murray Wallace, Jamie Shackleton, George Saville, Andreas Voglsammer, Zian Flemming, Oliver Burke, Tom Bradshaw. Subs: Bartosz Bialkowski, George Evans, Scott Malone, Ryan Leonard, Duncan Watmore, George Honeyman, Romain Esse.
One thing is certain, we will go into the game with some injuries. Taylor Harwood-Bellis will still be out for a while, recovering from the injury sustained on the first Saturday in January in the cup at Bournemouth. He’s now been joined by his central defensive partner Jordan Beyer who isn’t, reportedly, expected to return tonight.
There is now one more injury concern. Nathan Tella was forced off just past the hour at Luton and the club have confirmed that he’ll be assessed ahead of the game.
Jack Cork returned to the side at Luton. He made his Burnley debut at Fulham over thirteen years ago. Tonight will be his 250th game for the Clarets in league and cups. He’s scored eleven goals too in those games, eight in 220 league appearances and three in 29 in the cups, one of those at Blackburn in the League Cup and the other two on the Turf in the Europa League qualifiers.
Cork said: “When I came in thirteen years ago initially, I didn’t know I would come back after joining Southampton. It was a great opportunity when I had the chance to come back and I would like to think, over the time I have been here, most of the memories I have shared with fans, players and staff have been positive.
“It was really tough last season going down and I think because I’m involved more at the club that ever it felt like a massive blow. To make up for that with the chance of going up this season would mean a lot to me, it really would be special.”
It’s looking more and more likely that Jack will be captaining Burnley to promotion. We know it ain’t over till the fat lady sings but the league table suggests she’s ready to go on stage. That doesn’t bring us a result tonight but we are all working out just how many points we might need. I do think four wins will be enough now but, like all Burnley fans, I’ll be happier when we’ve got them and we can start to celebrate.
For now, it’s a tough visit to the Den.
LAST TIME WE WERE THERE
We won 2-0 at Millwall behind closed doors in the League Cup two seasons ago but the last time we played a league game there was way back in 2013.
As is the case today, we were top of the league having just won our previous seven games. We sat just three points clear of eventual champions Leicester and a further point ahead of QPR who went on to win the play-offs.
We fell behind midway through the first half through a Scott McDonald goal and seven minutes before half time, Millwall doubled their lead when Danny Shittu scored.
Thankfully, Sam Vokes pulled one back almost immediately and ten minutes into the second half we earned ourselves a point when we drew level. It looked as though Michael Kightly had scored his first Burnley goal but it was a Shane Lowery own goal.
We did look the more likely after equalising but eventually the game petered out and we were able to at least bring home a point.
The teams were;
Millwall: David Forde, Jack Smith, Danny Shittu, Paul Robinson, Scott Malone (Shane Lowry 7), Shaun Derry (Liam Feeney 57), Nicky Bailey, Martyn Waghorn (Steve Morison 67), Liam Trotter, Martyn Woolford, Scott McDonald. Subs not used: Stephen Bywater, Alan Dunne, Jermaine Easter, Andy Keogh.
Burnley: Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, Scott Arfield, David Edgar, David Jones, Michael Kightly (Brian Stock 83), Danny Ings, Sam Vokes. Subs not used: Alex Cisak, Kevin Long, Danny Lafferty, Steven Hewitt, Junior Stanislas, Ryan Noble.
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