Johnstone Paint Trophy Area Semi-Final 1st Leg
Shane Ferguson has extended his loan at the den till the 23rd of January and starts this game
We were up and at them from the first whistle and bothered their keeper with a couple of flurries around their goal and then we started to labour against a well drilled Oxford side. We did get the ball from time to time and threatened to threaten but it was either the wrong pass, a heavy touch, a wayward shot or a lost ball but we still had moments and then we cocked it up.
Live on sky and we must have looked poor
Roofe who scored a couple against Swansea in the FA Cup hit a daisy cutter that didn't look like a shot but ended up beating David Forde at the foot of his right-hand post with 15 minutes gone. Farcical really and it seemed to knock the stuffing out of us. As you imagine David Forde was not Mr Popular for the rest of the game and he got stick, We conceded the second goal on 42 minutes when a Oxford shot hit the bar after Forde got a touch to it and then it all seemed to go in slow motion with no reaction from anybody in a Millwall shirt Roofe once again scored as he was alive to the loose ball and headed home.
Plenty of second half action around the Oxford goal but no Lions comeback
We looked a bit more up for it second half which is a common theme this season and me being the forever optimistic I thought if we got a goal back early we can get something from this game. We set about having a go and we proceeded to bombard the Oxford half with long balls. We did have some decent wide play on the left which normally related to us winning one of those long balls and Steve Morison was normally involved but nothing was achieved from full backs running and dribbling with the ball and the midfield was non effective apart from loan signing Jed Wallace who had a sparkle about his play, I did not see that from anybody else. Flat and clueless on the night and there was nothing there whatsoever to keep you warm on this very cold night. As I said earlier we were more up for it second half and Mark Beever's should have done better with a header and Steve Morison had a header cleared off the goal line and a shot saved down to the keepers left.. My teeth are still chattering and I cannot bring myself to watch the Sky recording of this game, one shot of depression is enough.
We still have to play them at their place so there's a chance as our away record is not to bad.
Port Vale on Sunday at the Den. Back to the league and hopefully back to winning ways.
I presume Jordan Archer will be back for this one.
Millwall: Forde, Cummings, Martin (O'Brien 64), Beevers, Webster, Williams (Upson 78m), Abdou, Ferguson, Gregory (Onyedinma 85m ), Morison, Wallace
subs not used, Archer, Nelson,
Oxford United: Buchel, Baldock, Roofe (Hylton 87m), Mullins, Wright, Sercumbe, Hoban (O'Dowda 77m), McDonald, Lundstram, Maguire, Evans,
subs not used, Slocombe, Ruffels, Dunkley
Scorer: Roofe 15, 42m
