County ‘enter the lions den’ tomorrow to face up to a Millwall side unbeaten in six.
Kenny Jackett’s men, piling the pressure on Leeds in the automatic promotion spots, include the Elland Road outfit and fellow promotion hopefuls Charlton in the impressive run, beating Leeds 2-0 at Elland Road after comprehensively seeing off Phil Parkinson’s Addicks 4-0 at The Den.
County, meanwhile…well, it’s just another normal week at Edgeley Park. Amid a lot of excitement mid-week about Jim Gannon’s imminent departure at Peterborough United, we then settled down and realised the following:
a) There are more important things to worry about – i.e. no point in harping on about Gannon if there isn’t a club for him to manage.
b) We already have a manager.
c) We are actually playing at weekend.
Jemal Johnson is ready to be put back in the starting line-up as County look for their first goal in 5 matches.
Vital Quotes:
Gary Ablett: ‘Millwall at home was probably our poorest game of the season so we’ll aim to right that wrong.’
‘We need a performance and I hope we get it.’
‘I won’t accept any defeatist talk here. The circumstances don’t look great but there’s 27 points to play for.’
Kenny Jackett: ‘There’s no pressure on us or Gary’s side. Pressure is when you have a mortgage and kids and you can’t feed them. We have a great opportunity to achieve something in the next couple of months and we need to grasp it.’
Millwall Team News:
Millwall boss Kenny Jackett, whose led his side to third in the League One table after an impressive 2-0 victory at Elland Road on Monday night, has virtually a full squad to choose from for the match, and has the luxury of being able to name an unchanged side for the third game in a row.
Player to watch: Steve Morison
Big striker who plied his trade in non-league with Stevenage, netting 68 goals in 128 appearances.
Notched early on in the victory over struggling Leeds on Monday, taking his tally to this season for seventeen.
County Team News:
Gary Ablett will have Jemal Johnson fit for selection for the first time in four matches as County look to hit the back of the net – having not done so in over six hours of football.
Player to watch: David Perkins
Allow me to steal (lend) a little biography of Perkins from the esteemed Yellowboard which made me laugh:
Runs around for 90 minutes non-stop – but not to win the ball, just in the fear that he’s actually being stalked by a giant white Eagle ready to swoop down and grab him.
The little man is County’s main threat from midfield. The engine-room of the team, as it were.
Match Odds
Millwall – 1/4
Draw – 7/2
County – 9/1
Match Prediction:
45-0 to Millwall.
Next Fixtures:
COUNTY vs Walsall
League One
Edgeley Park
Saturday 3rd April ’10, 3pm
