Willie Donachie On The United Game

Last updated : 09 March 2007 By Thetashkentterror
Willie Donachie
Lions manager Willie Donachie, who was speaking to Millwall's official website, talked about the match against Carlisle at the New Den tomorrow. Donachie not allowing his charges to get too over-confident going into the game :


"We face a Carlisle side who are a strong team and have a very good record away from home. The challenge to the players here is to keep this run going. To be able to stick with the same team is a great situation to be in as a manager. All the players in the team know that if they don't perform they are under pressure for their place from others.

"But before we get too carried away with how well we're doing, the players know only too well that we can't let our standards drop for a minute - the Leyton Orient game should be too fresh in the memory for that to happen. I'm not into statistics - I just really want to win every game left!"


Meanwhile ex-Rangers striker Tom Brighton said :

"It has been a long hard season for me. Being out injured was all the more frustrating because results weren't going so well for us. But we are a lot more confident now, although we know that in the first 20 minutes against Carlisle we'll have to be in their faces, and not let them settle. Then once we've won that battle, we can take the game to them. Then, with the fans behind us, we can use these next two home games to maximise our points.

"The same applies to Crewe on Tuesday - they like to get the ball down and play football. The 5-2 home defeat by Leyton Orient might actually benefit us in these games, because it maybe gave us the kick up the backside we needed - it's not going to be plain sailing until the end of the season."


The in-form Lions only have one player missing through injury in Ben May (ankle) as midfielder Alan Dunne looks for a recall to the side after recovering from his own ankle problem. Two players have moved out from the New Den this week though in defender Maurice Ross who is all set to complete a free transfer switch to Norwegian Tippeligaen outfit Viking Stavanger, and winger Marvin Williams who was joined League Two crisis club Torquay United on loan until the end of the season. Meanwhile young midfielder Ali Fuseini will miss any chance of being on the bench for the United clash as he serves a three match suspension picked up for a sending-off in an Academy match at Fulham last weekend.


The referee for tomorrow's match is Phil Joslin from Newark in Nottinghamshire, and he will be assisted down the lines by John Hayto from Chelmsford in Essex and Steven Rushton from Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. Meanwhile the fourth official will be John Hopkins from Essex.