The FA Cup replay game between Millwall and Staines Town at the New Den on Wednesday Dec 9 2009.
The party may be over, but the Staines Massive carried on singing until the end. It was always going to be a tough ask for the Blue Square South side to make a dent in a Millwall side 78 league places ahead of them. But Staines exited the FA Cup with dignity and grace, their ‘crew’ of almost 500 fleshing out a pretty vacant New Den.
In truth, the gulf between the sides was more noticeable than in the 1-1 draw at Wheatsheaf Park 11 days ago, and Millwall were able to win comfortably without even approaching their best. They play Derby in round three; Staines host Weston-super-Mare on Saturday, but the £150,000 their Cup run has earned them will stiffen any sagging pride.
To Staines’s credit, they refused to park the team bus in front of the goal.
They left two men up throughout the match, but Richard Butler and Ali Chaaban, the heroes of the first game, were starved of service as Millwall dominated possession.
Despite the home side’s pressure, though, clear-cut chances were sporadic, and the prospect of a goalless first half beckoned. But five minutes before the break, Ashley Grimes put Steve Morison through; Morison shook off the attending Danny Gordon and slotted the ball to the left of Louis Wells.
It was a bitter blow for Staines, and when Jack Smith made it 2-0 after Howard Newton was robbed on the edge of his own area, the dam threatened to break. But Staines responded by enjoying their best spell of the match. Inevitably, though, they left gaps at the back as they pressed wearily forward.
Millwall were able to pick them off at will, and put the game beyond reasonable doubt when Alan Dunne rose to head home a Danny Schofield corner.
In injury time, Lewis Grabban slipped a quick free-kick through for Schofield to gloss the scoreline.
The Millwall fans stayed right to the end to applaud their plucky visitors off the pitch; Staines chairman Alan Boon looked a little relieved that his £18,000 Caribbean holiday, which he had threatened to miss if his team won, was safe. So after Kettering’s glorious last stand, the romance of the Cup is extinguished in another corner of England. Over to you, Barrow.
Match details
Millwall (4-4-2): Forde; Dunne, Robinson, Frampton, Smith; Hackett (Grimes 35), Laird, Abdou (Bolder 86), Schofield; Morison, Grabban. Subs: Sullivan, Ward, Price, Fuseini, Hughes-Mason. Booked: Robinson, Abdou.
Staines Town (4-4-2): Wells; Jackson, Sterling, Gordon, Ifura; Brown (Scarlett 67), Newton (Ahmad 83), Risbridger, Griffiths; Butler (Taylor 73), Chaaban. Subs: Courtnage, Thomas, Kamara, Onoche.
Referee: P Miller (Bedfordshire).
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