Millwall

Millwall v Reading

Sky Bet Championship
The Den

Saturday 18th January 2020

3pm

Journey Time to the ground: 2 hours 30 minutes.  We ended up leaving home a bit later than planned just after 12:45pm.  We got to the station and caught a train to Paddington before getting the tube to London Bridge via Baker Street.  From London Bridge we took the train to South Bermondsey station which is a couple of minutes walk from The Den and has a caged walkway that leads right to the away end. 

Ticket Price: £26

Programme Price: £3

Attendance: 14,011 with 1,606 Reading fans.

This was my fourth visit to The Den and my first since our Championship title winning 2005-06 season.  I really enjoy visiting The Den as it is an away day experience like no other.  We had tickets in the North Stand Upper Tier, the away end, behind one of the goals.  The North Stand is a two-tiered all-seater stand which is given entirely to away fans, although it is highly unlikely the lower tier will be used.  The view of the pitch is good especially being slightly higher but the leg room is a little tight.

To the left of the North Stand is the Dockers Stand.  The is another two-tiered all-seater stand with the most vociferous Millwall fans seeming to congregate close to the away fans in this stand.  Opposite the North Stand is the Cold Blow Lane End which is another two-tiered all-seater stand.  To the right of the North Stand is the Barry Kitchener Stand.  This is also a two-tiered all-seater stand which is the main stand at The Den and houses the team dug-outs at its front. 

Expectation was high as Reading were on a ten-game unbeaten run in the league however the first-half was a fairly even affair with neither side really creating many clear-cut chances.  Millwall were closest to breaking the deadlock but Matt Smith could only place his long-range header wide of the post. 

The second-half was all Millwall with Reading playing very poorly.  The Lions deservedly took the lead with 20 minutes to go but there was a hit of luck as there appeared to be a handball in the build-up to the goal.  Jed Wallace's right-wing cross was knocked down by Jake Cooper into the path of Matt Smith who made no mistake from eight yards out.  Ten minutes later it was two when former Reading striker Jon Dadi Bodvarsson was played in by Wallace and curled an effort past Rafael Cabral from twelve yards.  There was still time for Tom Bradshaw to head against the bar but it didn't made any difference as Millwall ran out deserved 2-0 winners.

Atmosphere: The atmosphere was good, it's always loud at Millwall.  There was a fairly large away following for a change and the atmosphere was pretty good in the away end.

Journey Time home: 2 hours 35 minutes.  We walked back to South Bermondsey station and caught the train to London Bridge.  As we had a travelcard we decide to make the most of being in London and took a walk up to Borough Market before crossing the Millennium Bridge up to St Pauls.  We got the tube from St Pauls to Holborn and walked to Covent Garden before getting some dinner at an Italian restaurant called Piazza.  We walked to Leicester Square and got the tube from Picadilly Circus to Paddington where we then caught the train home to Reading.  We walked home from the station and got home just after 10:40pm.

I did enjoy my trip to Millwall despite the poor result.  It is one of my favourite away games as it is so easy to get to and is a completely different experience to any other game.  The ground is really good and the view from the upper tier of the away end is excellent.