Millwall 2 - Tranmere 2 (Back to Report Lists) The penultimate home game for season 2006-2007 saw a robust Tranmere Rovers turn up with play off ambitions still intact and but sadly not with the support that their league position duly warranted. Typical of the phoney scousers, I guess, but still disappointing nonetheless. We arrived slightly later than usual after a brief chat with Del & Lin at the main entrance we made our way round towards the east stand only to be confronted by the latest Bollywood star in the making, none other than MISA’s Orange, who is probably going to change his name to Gurjip Chugga next season, depending on how far his career takes him… And look as I might, I saw no sign of Egg, other than the one I had on my breakfast plate at the Park View café in Bellingham…so still no mention for our resident good king Harry look-a-like…oh bollocks, he’s got a mention anyway now…..still, I should make allowances now and again for MISA members who are of a deserving cause….be fair, readers, he is a ginge…. As me & MrsB approached our seats, Dalboy caught my eye and gestured for me to look along where we sit. To my abject horror, someone was sitting in Mrs B’s bloody seat! The fuckin’ nerve of some people! We pay top dollar for our poxy season tickets and I wasn’t having none of it! I told the interloper to shift his arse out of it, pronto which he did immediately. MrsB was frantically tugging at my arm the whole time but I was not to be put off, oh no. When she finally got my attention she pointed out that I had got it wrong and our seats were still interloper free. Now, when I’m wrong I say so and I told the non-interloper to get back to his right seat and stop fucking about, which he duly did. Now then, where were we? Well, to all intents and purposes, to tell you the truth, we could have been sitting on a 133 bus. We were literally surrounded by strangers and I now know what Stanley Baker and Michael Caine went through at Rourke’s drift… What is it with Millwall and free tickets? It is fucking outrageous that they give out free tickets in the most expensive part of the ground and, let’s not kid ourselves, to people who will never darken our doors again until the next give away. If Millwall want to do this old bollocks then at least put these freebies in the south lower or even the north lower and stop pissing off the poor bastards like me and Mrs B who pay out a substantial amount of money for the privilege of sitting in the east upper. The fuckin’ halfwit who sat next to Mrs B spent the whole game talking on his mobile phone and updating all the other ‘freebies’ in his posse on how Arsenal were doing….see what I mean Millwall? These fucking piss taking bastards take your tickets just for the sake of it and have no interest in our club whatsoever so stop giving them the best seats in the house or better still, put them in the poxy directors seats which looked pretty empty from where I was sitting. I do apologise to my readers for that rant but I felt it needed saying. In fact, I urge you all to write to our club and let them know your displeasure, if you agree with what I am saying! But onto all matters football and before the game started I was very pleased to see Bryan King step onto the pitch to rapturous applause from the fans. Bryan, for those of you who don’t know, is, in my opinion, the best ‘keeper we have ever had and was a boyhood hero of mine. He has just turned 60 and as part of his birthday celebrations, he was given a token gesture from Millwall Football Club, so credit where it is due. Oh and for some obscure reason, Phil Walker was also brought onto the pitch. I have no idea why but it is always nice to see old Millwall players back at the Den. And finally, onto the match itself. The team line up was slightly tweaked but we are stuck, it seems, with Pidgers in goal but thankfully, the back four of Senda, Robbo, Shaw & Craig are reasonably protective of our custodian of the sticks. The midfield comprised of Brammer, Dunne, Smith and Williams with Pubey up front with Bomber. No place for want away Elliott so oor wullie can take a bit of advice now and again….. We started off at our usual pace and took the game to Rovers. A couple of decent chance early on as Danny Senda hit a blistering drive that just crept over the bar and Pubertz, it has to be said, fluffed a gilt edge chance and only managed a tame shot, straight at Ward in the Rovers goal. The pressure was building nicely and Williams and Smith were causing problems for the Tranmere rear guard with Bomber again running his socks off, trying to work his way past their defence. Then, after about 10 minutes disaster struck. Tranmere managed to win a dubious free kick about half way into the Millwall half. Our usually resolute defence was caught well and truly napping and a quick free kick out to the left of our area saw an unmarked Sheriff ( I thought someone shot him?) take his time and rifle the ball home. 0-1…what on earth had happened there? I think the Tranmere fans celebrated but to be honest there were so few of them it was hard to tell. It could have got worse soon after as McClaren found himself with more time than is respectable but missed the target by some distance. Millwall then snapped out of the self induced coma and took the game by the scruff of the neck and started creating plenty of chances with Williams, Smith and even Dunne all going close to getting the deserved equaliser. Danny Senda again went close but it just didn’t seem to be clicking. The ref blew for half time and the lads trotted off to a mixture of jeers and applause. We did have a decent compliment of MISA reps in amongst the freebie brigade including JW (no Mick, his gout was playing up), CharlieMFC, MFCTom, Nez, Dartford and the full crew of Dartfordettes, Essex Exile and son of, HPS and Victoria, Elmo Putney in a very fetching T shirt and that was pretty much it. If I have missed anyone then boy am I going to egg on my face… The second half began with a substitution and how pleasing to see Baby Boy back in a Millwall shirt. Some fans actually believed that Baby Boy had played his last game for us when he got injured….oh ye of little faith….little being the operative word…. Williams made way for baby Boy and Bomber reverted to left wing with Smith going back over to the right side. Once again, oor wullies tinkering did the trick and within five minutes of the restart we were level. Brammer took a quick free kick out to Smith who jinked his way across the front of the box and set up, of all people, Alan Dunne. But this time the dodecagon footed one connected with the right side of his foot and the ball flew into the net 1-1! We went mad. Well the Millwall fans amongst us did. The fuckin’ freebie lot just sat on their collective arses and managed a halfhearted clap of the hands. Now it was all Millwall and the relentless wave of attacking football put Rovers well and truly on the rack. Pubey, was once again, guilty of fluffing his lines when he had a glorious chance to put in Bomber , Baby Boy and even goal scorer Dunne for a simple tap in to make it two but he went for a shot that had about as much chance of finding the net as Egg has of ever getting a proper mention in a match report….ah fuck it, I’ve done it again…. But, dear reader all was not lost. Pubey can still contribute and he combined with the always-excellent Dave Brammer to set up Ryan Smith (please sign him, Millwall, I’m begging you, I’ll even shut up about the fucking freeloaders if you sign him) whose pile-driving volley was well saved by Ward in the Rover goal. Then, on around the seventy minute mark Alan Dunne proved the old adage that even a broken clock will get it right twice in one day as he once again managed to get his boot onto the end of a Ryan Smith pass and sent the ball flying into the net. 2-1! At last! Just rewards for unending pressure, thoroughly deserved and now we would surely go on to win at a cantor….. But no. Even before the E-I-O’s had died down, disaster struck. Once again our normally trustworthy central defenders were caught napping and the gangling Zola got in a very tired and lacklustre effort that somehow managed to creep past Pidgers for an immediate equaliser. 2-2. Bollocks! This really did seem to knock the stuffing out of us and Tranmere suddenly fancied their chances. Pidgers made some sort of amends for letting in a soft goal by making a couple of point blank saves when it seemed almost certain that Rovers would net the winner then Danny Senda did marvellously well by getting after Shuker as he bore down on goal and making a block come tackle that had to be timed to perfection to avoid a penalty. Then it was the turn of the referee to really get involved. Now this clot had not had a very good game to be honest and from this point on he got decidedly worse. Hackett came on with five minutes left to replace Smith and immediately got into the thick of the action. Tranmere breathed a collective sigh of relief when Smith went off but they must’ve wondered what hit them when Hackett took over. He picked the ball up just inside their half and went belting down the right wing, he skipped past the last defender who did his best to upend the flying winger. Although Hackett was clearly fouled he kept his feet and kept going and sent in a beautiful cross that Baby Boy fired home but referee Miller had already blown his whistle for a free kick. Eh? What the fuck was he on? Had he not been told of the advantage rule? Did he forget it existed? Was he a fuckin’ moron? (Those of you who chose option D are correct but there is no prize available). We were inconsolable. A perfectly legitimate goal disallowed by one mans incompetence. This joker should not be allowed anywhere near a professional football match ever again., Then right at the death this bozo of a ref got in the way of a promising move by Millwall and the ball fell to Zola who sprinted towards the Millwall goal but he made a complete balls up of the chance and thankfully the ball flew well wide of the mark. There was still time though for one last effort and Hackett once again burst up the right wing and sent over an inch perfect cross for Pubey who did everything right except miss the target. He really should have scored. It was another fine chance that the big man wasted. And that was that. Miller blew up for full time and we had to settle for a draw. There was some shenanigans as the ref left the pitch but we couldn’t see from where we were exactly what happened but the stewards moved in and quickly got matters under control… Well, one home game left and two away. Huddersfield away is next up and I would expect us to get a result up there. Then Bristol City at home and they might need to win to get automatic promotion. If that is the case I expect they will sell out their allocation and in doing so may well give us our biggest attendance of the season without any bolstering from the freebie brigade. Pay on the day at Huddersfield so I expect to see plenty of MISA reps on show and maybe, just maybe, Egg might get a mention if he turns up…..