In the Sky Bet Championship action at The Den on Wednesday night, Millwall thumped Watford 3-0 as Tom Bradshaw’s first half hat-trick was enough to secure all three points.
Early Offence
Millwall started the game well, with some early pressure leading to Tom Bradshaw opening the scoring in the 8th minute, taking the Watford defence by surprise with a sweetly struck shot into the top right corner.
The home side’s first goal came from their direct approach with long ball after long ball hit into the box, which the Watford defenders were unable to deal with.
Set-Piece Success
After going ahead, the Lions continued to pile the pressure on, which resulted in them going two goals to the good in the 26th minute. Following a free kick, Bradshaw latched onto Mason Bennett’s low-driven cross and prodded home past the keeper.
Another free kick in the 33rd minute soon saw Millwall extend their lead further as Bradshaw completed a first half hat-trick, bringing down Jake Cooper’s flick-on and slotting past the keeper.
Gary Rowett’s side once again showed how much of a threat they are from set pieces in the first half, with two of their goals coming from free kicks and 11 of their 20 goals scored this season having been created through set plays.
This could prove to be an important aspect of Millwall’s push for promotion this season. The Lions went in 3-0 up at half time.
Clean Sheet
The introduction of Samuel Kalu and Joao Pedro at half time gave the visitors more of an attacking threat and had most of the possession at the start of the second half and a few half chances were created, but the Hornets were unable to take any of these opportunities.
Watford then had a good chance to pull a goal back in the 72nd minute as Kalu found space in the box, but the substitute struck his shot wide of the target. Kalu also hit the post in the last few minutes of the game, but despite this late pressure on Millwall’s backline, the game finished 3-0.
What’s Next?
Following this huge league win against Watford, Millwall climb up to 8th place in the league table and are now only a point off the playoff places.
This defeat for Watford pushes them down to 15th place after a disappointing start to the season as they were many people’s favourites to secure automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Millwall host West Brom in their next game on Saturday and will be looking to continue where they left off against Watford, aiming for another win to carry themselves into the playoff places.
Edited by Josh Morton
