Division 1 Playoff : Millwall-Huddersfield Town

Some very basic notes about the match tonight, which I wrote this morning .....

Millwall had the better chances in the first leg, but Town still had plenty of the ball and put 26 crosses into the Lions box, a very acceptable number.

It will be very difficult for the visitors tonight, the New Den is an intimidating place to go at any time, let alone in front of a big crowd, under floodlights, in cup tie, which this effectively now is. Millwall have only lost once here all season and are an incredible 6-1-0 against the other top 8 teams. However, and this is where I think we have a spot of value, they fell behind in four of those, the matches against Southampton, Norwich, Swindon and Colchester, they also took an age to get going in the local derby with Charlton . Also, in the league fixture here between these two, Town had a "good" shout for a penalty turned down with the game scoreless. Jordan Rhodes was still complaining about that several weeks later he was so aggrieved ! It was only really in the Leeds game that Wall came out all guns blazing and at that time the visitors were unbeaten , so there was little pressure or expectation on the home team.

It is fair to say that as intimidating as the venue is and believe me, it is, that at least early on, this puts as much pressure on the home team as it does the visitors. I like the 3.0 for Huddersfield to qualify with Sbobet, these playoff games are rarely as clear cut as they look and this could easily go to extra time IMO, if Millwall start a little sluggish again and Town take the lead, I will probably look to tie in a profit at that stage.

BTW, everything I wrote on saturday about Town's help with the mental side of things of course stands double for tonight. Also, I have just remembered that 9th placed Brentford also took the lead here and led for a long time before the hosts scored a late equaliser and that was another vital game for the Lions, so don't be surprised to see the visitors in front !

Good Luck.