Speaking to Millwall’s website after the game, Neil Harris said: “The attacking players can turn around and blame the defenders for conceding goals, but we should’ve scored more than three goals today and won the game.”
Early Pressure
Millwall started the game very strongly, pegging Norwich back to their own 18-yard box for large portions of the opening minutes of the game. The early stand-out chance came as Jake Cooper met a corner to head goal-bound, only for Norwich to clear off the line.
However, in one of their first ventures forward, the Canaries took the lead as Onel Hernandez danced his way in to the box to force a save from Jordan Archer, who could only palm the ball out to Marco Stiepermann, who volleyed home in the 16th minute.
Corner Chaos
The Lions started to up the ante, winning set-piece after set-piece, looking to dominate the Canaries in the air. On the stroke of half-time, Shane Ferguson’s corner was flicked on at the front post by Steve Morison for Shaun Williams to head in off the post, levelling the game before the break.
The second half started as a closely contested affair. In the 69th minute Norwich were awarded a corner, from which Emi Buendia provided an excellent delivery for Christoph Zimmermann to emphatically head the ball past Archer, who gesticulated helplessly at his static defenders.
Premier League Class
With 11 minutes remaining, Buendia’s class once again shone through as the Argentine found Teemu Pukki with an excellently weighted pass to split the Millwall defence. The Finn found the back of the net with ease, displaying to the onlooking spectators just why he’s this season’s Championship top-scorer, with 24 goals.
The onlooking Millwall fans had seen enough wastefulness by this point, with the vast majority heading to the exits during the last 10 minutes of the match.
Harris’ Reflection
“The boys stuck to the gameplan and had a right go. A lot of the wrongs we had here against Preston in the first 25 minutes, we put right. But I said to the players that we have to be better in the final third, and ultimately that’s the difference today – the quality of their end product is outstanding, which is why they’ve scored so many goals and are top of the League. Ours on the other hand wasn’t good enough.”
Match Facts
Millwall: Archer, Meredith (O’Brien 74′), Hutchinson, Cooper, Williams (Elliott 84′), J. Wallace, Thompson, Gregory, Ferguson, Romeo, Morison. Subs not used: Martin, Onyedinma, Pearce, Tunnicliffe, Leonard.
Scorer: Williams 45′
Bookings: Meredith, Thompson
Norwich City: Krul, Godfrey, Zimmermann, Lewis (Klose 88′), Buendia (Leitner 84′), Stiepermann, Trybull, Pukki, McLean, Hernandez (Vrancic 87′), Aarons. Subs not used: Oxborough, Rhodes, Tettey, Hanley.
Scorers: Stiepermann 16′, Zimmermann 69′, Pukki 79′
Referee: David Webb
Attendance: 16,478 (3,240)
