Millwall - Rotherham, English Division 1
2004-02-24 20.45 CET
Pick: Millwall
Stake: 3%
Odds: 1,70
Final reason for bet
·
Promotion
chasers Millwall seems to finally have hit the form.
·
Millwall played really good last weekend when they defeated Preston away.
·
Millwall will have a couple more regulars available than last
weekend.
·
Rotherham often find it hard to
play on the road.
·
Rotherham will once again be without their skipper.
General comment about the game
In form Millwall will take on Rotherham at home on The Den in tonight’s clash in the English
first division. Before the season started Millwall
had high ambitions and aimed for promotion to the premiership. When approaching
mid December this aim seemed to be wasted. The main reason was their very bad
away record. However, since then this has turned around. Millwall
has won four of five away matches and only lost once in their latest ten league
games and this run has placed them on ninth place only two points behind a
playoff spot. Furthermore, they have already won three FA cup matches this year
so the form is obviously high. The most recent defeat came at home against Gillingham in December when the visitors were in a good period.
The loss was due to a very bad first half and an unlucky ending when Gillingham scored the winner in the final minute. The second
half performance was quite good from Millwall and
they should have got at least one point. Millwall is
unbeaten during 2004 in all competition managing six wins and two draws. This
achievement is even better considering that they have played against fellow
promotion candidates such as Wigan, Sunderland and Preston. Last weekend was the away game against good home
team Preston. Millwall played
really well and earned a well deserved 2-1 victory. They created many good
opportunities too score and also had one goal disallowed. Player manager Dennis
Wise was full of praise for his player’s team spirit. Now they have two straight
home games this week; tonight against Rotherham and on Saturday against Burnley. Good results in both of these games would really be
a push for their promotion bid, and it seems like they have a good chance of
doing that. Manager Wise is likely to change his winning team for tonight’s
game; Australia defender Kevin Muscat (20 apps, 0 goal) will be available again
after his international duty, midfielder Wise (23 apps, 1 goal) himself is fit
again after illness that ruled him out last weekend and striker Neil Harris (23
apps, 5 goals) could also be restored. No new injury or suspension worries
ahead of this game.
Rotherham is currently in 18th place, quite
safe to stay away from the relegation battle with seven points above the drop
zone. This was their main target for the season and it seems like they are
going to manage that. They started the season really bad managing only two wins
from their first seventeen matches. Then they had a good stroll with eight
consecutive unbeaten matches. Some performances were really good and the high
came when they defeated Wigan away. However since then they seem to be more
back to normal; in their last six games they have the record 1/2/3. However, at home they have made two good
performances lately that nearly earned them six points. First it was the clear
victory over Reading with 5-1 and last weekend they nearly beat Nottingham but the opponents grabbed the equaliser in the dying
seconds. The result was not unfair since the two teams had the play in one half
each. Their away record this season is not good and now they have two straight
losses; against Cardiff and West Ham. Tonight the team will be boosted
by the return of midfielder Nick Daws (4 apps) who
has been on loan to Grimsby since September. Also striker Paul Warne (23
apps, 0 goals) will be available after his suspension. However, skipper Martin
McIntosh (18 apps, 2 goals) is still struggling to regain his fitness after he
got injured in mid-December. No new injury or suspension worries in front of
tonight are reported.
We believe that Millwall will continue to climb up the table. Now they have
two on the paper quite easy home games and we think that they will take this
chance of strengthen their promotion bid. Rotherham has lost the very good form that they were in before
New Year even if they after that have managed a couple of good results.
However, a promotion chasing Millwall will under
normal circumstances be too much for a Rotherham side that is pleased just to stay away from the
relegation battle. Medium stake 3% is suggested.
Recent
games for home team
|
2004-02-21
|
Preston-Millwall
|
1-2
|
|
2004-02-07
|
Millwall-Stoke
|
1-1
|
|
2004-01-31
|
Crewe-Millwall
|
1-2
|
|
2004-01-17
|
Millwall-Sunderland
|
2-1
|
|
2004-01-10
|
Wigan-Millwall
|
0-0
|
Recent games for away team
|
2004-02-21
|
Rotherham-Nottingham
|
1-1
|
|
2004-02-07
|
Rotherham-Reading
|
5-1
|
|
2004-01-31
|
West Ham-Rotherham
|
2-1
|
|
2004-01-17
|
Rotherham-Norwich
|
4-4
|
|
2004-01-10
|
Cardiff-Rotherham
|
3-2
|
Home table
|
Millwall
|
15
|
7
|
6
|
2
|
17-9
|
27
|
Away table
|
Rotherham
|
15
|
3
|
5
|
7
|
15-25
|
14
|
Links for this game
// SportsObserver 040224
