It’s funny how things sometimes fall for you. When it became apparent that I would be down south for work during this week, I decided that any away draw in or near London would be a no-brainer.
With nine London clubs (plus Reading) in the hat, the odds were decent to say the least. When it came out as Millwall, I have to admit I thought twice, but in for a penny in for a pound.
I have no frame of reference for the Den. I was 13 last time we played away at Millwall at the old Den, so not only is it unlikely that I even know anyone to have ventured down, but even if I did it was a different ground back then.
Obviously, Millwall have a reputation, enhanced by various football dramas, as one of the roughest clubs in England.
I’m not going to pretend it’s a total fabrication, but the days of firms meeting each other for pre-match scraps have been diluted a bit since the 80s and the relatively sedate nature of midweek cup ties meant this was no different to navigating any other unfamiliar neighbourhood on a random Tuesday night.
I did give them enough respect to travel entirely incognito and left my wife blissfully unaware that I’d be undertaking a solo venture to Bermondsey while away from home. Fair concessions I reckon.
Photo by Jamie Smith via The Mag
You can become a bit spoilt when it comes to away travel if you’re a fixture in the Premier League. The Den was a throwback to claustrophobic concourses, awful toilets and inadequate bars that were par for the course a couple of decades back. The staff did a canny job of distributing the Spitfire lager but they could have been better prepared for half-time (think of the SCR boost).
I headed into the stands with high expectations. I won’t go into too much detail on this as you should all have been listening to The Mag podcast where I laid these out and will have recapped in the Millwall specific edition that will be dropping very soon, so use your ears for this part of the report.
Anyway, a strong United team lining up against an injury hit home side suggested this should be a formality. Instead the worry persisted that the shot-shy problems of last year are persisting into the Jaissle era. Constant possession produced nothing int he way of meaningful efforts as ponderous approach work invited the determined Millwall defence to thwart attacks before anyone dare do anything as outrageous as attempt a shot. Joe Willock finally had a go but home goalie Marschall produced a sharp save.
The breakthrough should arguably have come in the dying moments of the first half as Schar was clearly manhandled at a corner but nothing was given. Again, I’d urge you to tune into The Mag Pod to hear my foolish friend Simon Cahill insist that VAR is a bad thing.
Livramento stepped up his comeback with a half-time introduction but his presence did little to change things up, with Tino’s rusty tracking at fault when Millwall almost nicked it, Arconte going on to crack the post. With the second half having deteriorated into fear of an old fashioned lower-league mugging, this was almost the killer moment. Instead, this moment was swiftly delivered at the right end almost instantly. Fernandez-Pardo had again looked lively off the bench, and his neatly disguised pass played in the clear man of the match, Lewis Hall. He drove it into the centre and Joe Willock cleverly diverted it inside the post, to cheers of outright relief behind the goal.
Photo by Jamie Smith via The Mag
This, at least, was comfortable. Millwall were never likely to force penalties and the final whistle arrived to great cheers, despite the fact that no one can have been blown away by United’s efforts on the night. Nonetheless, that maintains the unbeaten start to the season and the overall objective of any cup tie was achieved. We are in the hat for the next round.
A strange old week follows as we await the second tranche of the third round matches
before finding out the opponent in the crucial round of 16. Despite the misgivings over some performance elements this team continues to find a way and I made it out alive, so I’m chalking this one down as a massive success. Next.
Millwall 0 Newcastle 1 – Tuesday 8 September 2026 8pm
Match Stats
Goals:
Willock 81
Millwall:
Possession was Newcastle 63% Millwall 37%
Total shots were Newcastle 25 Millwall 9
Shots on target were Newcastle 6 Millwall 2
Corners were Newcastle 15 Millwall 1
Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 30 Millwall 21
Newcastle team v Millwall:
Hornicek, Dedic (Livarmento 46), Schar, Botman, Hall, Ramsey (Lewis Miley 83), Gonzalez, Willock (Steur 91), Barnes, Murphy (Elanga 66), Wissa (Fernandez-Pardo 66)
Unused subs:
Pope, Bamba, Thiaw, Toure
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