Sessegnon’s star turn silences the Millwall boo-boys
FuLHAM’s teenage sensation Ryan sessegnon had the best answer to the boo-boys as he helped send his side back into the top two of the Championship last night.
The 17-year- old scored his 15th league goal of a quite remarkable season before a Kevin McDonald screamer and Aleksandar Mitrovic’s late strike took the visitors to 22 games unbeaten under boss slavisa Jokanovic.
sessegnon will not have had many nights like this as Millwall’s fans created the cauldron of noise that manager Neil Harris wanted for this London derby at The Den.
They booed his every touch so he happily celebrated his goal by cupping his ears. Being as good as he is, the youngster best get used to being greeted that way by opposition fans.
Fulham are now two points clear of third-placed Cardiff, but the Welsh side have two games in hand. All the Cottagers can do is continue winning and cross their fingers for a return to the top flight.
This was a battle between the Championship’s two inform teams, with Millwall unbeaten in 17 games.
And in the first half, it seemed likelier that Jokanovic’s side would leave as losers. The hostile atmosphere left them shellshocked and Millwall created chance after chance.
They almost scored the opener after only five minutes when Jake Cooper crashed a header against the crossbar.
Millwall had the ball in the net through George saville after quarter of an hour but there was confusion as referee Andre Marriner chalked it off. saville and his team-mates were already celebrating, but Marriner spotted a shove on Matt Targett by Jed Wallace.
Fulham’s Tim Ream was then forced into an heroic clearance off the line after a low shot by Wallace with Marcus Bettinelli in no man’s land.
The visitors were clinging on but had the final chance before the break as Targett unleashed a shot from 25 yards which clipped the crossbar.
Almost immediately after the break, Millwall were made to regret the missed chances.
Mitrovic’s hopeful shot was spilled by Jordan Archer and the ball fell to sessegnon, who slotted it underneath the Millwall keeper.
They then doubled their lead through McDonald as he turned saville then unleashed a shot that rifled into the back of the net. It killed off Millwall once and for all.
And as a few Millwall fans made their way to the exits, Fulham’s Tomas Kalas embarked on a 50-yard run before setting up Mitrovic, who scored in the top corner.