EXPECTATION, hope and maybe some anxiety would have greeted Millwall fans on the morning of May 8, 2023.
Apart from a two-season stay in the old First Division in the late 1980s, Lions supporters through the ages had been starved of top-flight football. But, despite limited resources at The Den, belief had once again gathered in the spring of 2023 that this might be the year.
The automatic promotion spaces were never on the cards – runaway leaders Burnley and Sheffield United had seen to that – while Luton Town had impressively climbed into a comfortable third.
Middlesbrough and Coventry City, who played each other on the final day, looked set to finish fourth and fifth but the Sky Blues still risked falling out of the top six if they were to lose at the Riverside.
Beneath those two were several teams looking to sneak into the play-offs.
Millwall knew they all they needed to do was beat Blackburn Rovers while Blackburn had to beat the Lions and hope other results went their way.
Elsewhere Sunderland were at Preston North End, safe in the knowledge that they had their fate in their own hands, while outsiders West Bromwich Albion were at Swansea City, needing a few favours elsewhere.
“In The Sopranos, after awaking from his coma, Christopher Moltisanti said ‘Hell is an Irish bar, where every day is St. Patricks Day,'” Lions fan and TV buff Joe Breton tells NewsAtDen. “He was wrong. Hell is May 8 2023, Millwall vs Blackburn at The Den.
“I woke up that morning with the usual cocktail of emotions – equal parts excited and anxious, with a touch of dread thrown in for good measure. As we were on the brink of securing a play-off spot, there was a carnival-like atmosphere at The Den that day, you could sense the excitement and tension in the air. I overheard other fans saying, ‘surely we can’t mess it up from here’ and surely, we couldn’t?
“But, then again, this is Millwall.”
Form had been shaky in the weeks building up to the final day and in some ways the Lions were fortunate to still have their fate in their own hands against Rovers.
A 1-0 home defeat against Huddersfield Town began the stumble and goalless draws against West Brom and Luton followed after March’s international break.
Millwall then beat lost to Hull City, beat Preston North End before back-to-back defeats against Birmingham City and Wigan Athletic.
Lifelong Lions fan and host of the Achtung! Millwall podcast Nick Hart said: “We lost an awful game at Wigan. It was a dire, dire performance. And then we pulled off a win at Blackpool and then it all came down to the Blackburn game. Huge, huge fixture, packed Den, the place was pumped up and we managed somehow to get ourselves 3-1 ahead.
“I haven’t watched it back since but from memory the whole whirlwind of The Den put us in that position where goals were going in, I remember Oliver Burke scoring a good goal.”
It was Duncan Watmore who pounced first, eventually latching onto a long throw by Zian Flemming and firing home off the underside of the crossbar.
Joe said: “In the 8th minute Duncan Watmore’s shot hit the bar and we were all sure it was over the line. It felt like a lifetime waiting for the ref to check his watch and when he confirmed the goal, the roof came off The Den.
“It might just be happening…”
Despite Millwall’s impressive start, it was 1-1 as Adam Wharton whipped a delicious effort into the bottom corner beyond George Long after 22 minutes.
But the reaction from the home side was strong with Watmore taking advantage of a Harry Pickering mistake to score after 37 minutes before Burke rattled a shot home just two minutes later.
Millwall fan Frank Young watched on with intrigue.
He said: “We didn’t really deserve it, we’d been gifted two of the goals. But if felt like luck was on our side.
“At half-time my dad thought we had made it, I reminded him this is Millwall we were talking about. I wasn’t happy to be right. The second half collapse had a feel of inevitability to it.”
Lions striker Tom Bradshaw could also sense the mood of optimism inside The Den at half-time.
He told NewsAtDen: “In the stadium in general at half-time I think a lot of fans had us earmarked and were planning their play-off tickets really.
“For us [the players] we weren’t quite to that extent but 3-1 at half-time you’re fairly confident you can go out and do the job. But as I said it wasn’t to be and it’s something I think everyone involved with the club that day looks back and regrets.”
Bradshaw wasn’t exaggerating about fans already rubbing their hands together at the prospect of the play-offs, as Joe confirms.
He said: “In the concourse at half time, people were discussing what train they were going to get up to Middlesbrough for the playoff game and why shouldn’t they have been? We were 3-1 up against a team that didn’t have much to play for.
“I never felt comfortable planning any future games, the game wasn’t over and despite the scoreline, Blackburn were probably the better team.
“The next 45 minutes was going to feel like six hours… and it did.”
The second half would be slow-motion torture for Millwall fans as Blackburn took control and gradually scored three goals without reply. The Lions looked all at sea for the majority of the half as they watched their dreams fade away but unable to do anything to stop it.
Nick said: “From 3-1 up at home with a packed house, we should have seen it through. And that we collapsed, as we did, because Blackburn changed tactics, is the biggest indictment of Gary Rowett’s reign. We’ve had some good moments but some really, really poor performances and spells and that probably culminated in that Blackburn game. It was a dire second half and we just went to pieces.
“How do you let a 3-1 win with so much on the table slip through your fingers? I don’t know, I’m not sure anyone knows really, maybe he [Rowett] doesn’t know that either. There’s been some level of leadership missing in the team for some time, in my opinion, and that certainly came to the fore in that game. It was a dire second-half and I must admit feeling really numb at the end of it. It was a shocking, shocking show.”
Joe said: “Looking at the bench for someone who could possibly change the game for us, or at least help us hold on, there weren’t any viable options. An ideal world would have seen us play five at the back for the second half but the squad was down to the bare bones with Charlie Cresswell picking up an injury a few weeks before.
“By this point, the crowd were anxiously checking their phones to see if a draw would see us make the play-offs, if the scores in other games would allow it, and at this point they would.”
Elsewhere, Sunderland had taken control at Preston, Coventry were grabbing a draw at the Riverside while West Brom versus Swansea had been 2-2 for much of the second half before Joel Piroe in stoppage time had won it for the Welsh team.
Millwall would have needed Preston to miraculously take something from Sunderland or find a goal or two themselves but, by the 86th minute, when Ben Brereton Diaz hit his second goal to make it 4-3, it was clear it was over.
Joe added: “You couldn’t feel a Millwall goal coming and when Ben Brereton Diaz scored the winner, I’m not ashamed to admit, I got up and left the ground. I couldn’t believe what I had watched. Not only had we thrown away the game, we had also thrown away the best opportunity we were likely to get to go up to the Premier League.
“The teams who got into the play-offs were all beatable and seeing Luton go up only made things worse. It really did feel like a case of same old Millwall.”
The nature of the defeat also would not sit well with Frank.
He said: “I didn’t sleep well for several days, replaying the goals conceded over and over. Over time I realised that we simply weren’t good enough to get promoted and that eased the pain a bit.”
Nick said: “The season had been a very odd season, up and down, poor performances and then we get a win just when we needed it. And then you get another poor performance. So it wasn’t exactly the season where you’re building to a crescendo but the crescendo kind of came slightly against the odds with that win [the week before] at Blackpool.
“But to set the table up and have the opportunity [of reaching the play-offs] and to be 3-1 up at the end of the 45 minutes and then to concede so abjectly in the second half was very dispiriting.”
There’s a general agreement among fans and players that, however disappointing that game in May was, winning tonight’s match does not represent any form of revenge.
Goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski, who watched proceedings from the bench that day but will start tonight, said: “We moved on. It’s a new season, new goals, new aims and that’s all you can do really.
“This season’s a new season. I don’t think it’s a case of getting revenge but it’s certainly a fixture we look back on and think ‘what if?’. But hopefully that won’t the case [today].”
Millwall fan Frank added: “There’s nothing special about the upcoming game versus Blackburn, like any other game we need a good performance and hopefully three points. We have looked a genuinely good side in spells this season but need to show that much more consistently to get to where we want to be.”
Joe said: “I’ve never felt so emotionally drained after a game of football – I still don’t think I’m fully over it. Beating Blackburn on Tuesday wouldn’t resemble revenge or make me feel better about that game, only a place in the play offs can right that wrong.”