Lions’ Den savours another Premier League scalp to
with their tails firmly between their legs.
First to fall were Bournemouth, devoured 3-0 in the third round after making 11 changes to their starting line-up. Then came Watford, beaten by a late Steve Morison winner after switching seven players.
Now, most dramatically, Leicester City, the champions, have suffered their very own south-London mauling. They too made drastic changes – 10 in total – and they too paid the price.
In three games, then, the topflight sides have made a combined 28 changes to their teams. More fool them, because Millwall are quite clearly not a side to be underestimated. Especially not in the FA Cup, where runs to the final in 2004 and the semi-final in 2013 should have provided ample warning of the sharpness of the Lions’ teeth in English football’s oldest competition.
Unbeaten since mid-December, Neil Harris’s team are powerful, relentless and will not be cowed by any side, least of all the ailing Premier League champions.
They have forced their way into League One play-off contention in recent weeks and, after plans to evict them from the land around their stadium were shelved last month, they appear to be a club upon whom the winter sun shining.
But, as ever with Millwall, the dark clouds are never too far away. Barely seconds after Shaun Cummings had scored the late winner on Saturday, the pitch was flooded by hundreds of jubilant home supporters, a sizeable chunk of whom, practically overflowing with braggadocio, made their way towards the Leicester end and goaded the travelling fans as police stood in their way.
It marked a messy end to an otherwise joyous afternoon, and the club will be hoping it does not overshadow their team’s success.
“You beat one Premier League is team, and it’s a shock,” said Harris, whose side were reduced to 10 men early in the second half by Jake Cooper’s dismissal. “To beat a second one, you have done really well. To beat three? That is some achievement. That is testimony to my players, their hunger and willingness to learn.
“There’s no pressure. If we get beat two or three-nil at home to Leicester, is it a problem? No, because it is expected. There was pressure on Leicester, certainly, but from our perspective we can just turn up and play.”
Millwall were fully deserving of their victory, as Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri accepted afterLincoln