Our U21s suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat against Millwall at the Den on Tuesday afternoon.
Although the Reds displayed good spells at certain points through the game, the Lions’ quality in front of goal and solid defence was enough to dismantle the young Barnsley team.
The hosts opened the scoring early in the first half. In the ninth minute, some quick passing play down the right led to Sebastian Drozd receiving the ball in the box. A quick turn and shot from the attacker left our trialist keeper with no chance to save it, as the ball was firmly planted in the bottom right of the goal.
A poor start became even worse for our U21s shortly after. Striker Abdulsabur Abdulmalik received a defence splitting through ball from midfielder Arthur Penney, and the attacker made no mistake in the one-on-one, rounding our keeper and tapping the ball into an empty net.
Barnsley kept their heads up despite the two quick goals scored by the home side and fashioned a chance of their own. A nice spell of attacking play following some good pressing down the right resulted in a shot from Joe Ackroyd, however the midfielder saw his attempt blocked.
The game became increasingly difficult when Tom Harban was forced into a change. A rough challenge on Kareem Hassan-Smith resulted in the full-back being forced off with an injury midway through the first half, with Danny Benson taking his place.
Our U21s had their best chance of the game shortly before the interval. Slobodan Tedić latched onto a long pass from the back and managed to control the ball and take it past the goalkeeper. However, a miraculous piece of defending from Chin Okoli denied the striker from tapping into an empty net with a slide tackle from behind.
Just before half time, the Reds saw another chance go begging. An impressive bit of attacking saw the ball fall to Butterfill, who’s attempt from the edge of the box was just dragged wide.
HALF-TIME: Millwall 2-0 Barnsley
Following the restart, the Reds continued with their pressing play, trying to rob the Lions further up the pitch to bring themselves back into the encounter.
The hosts narrowly missed out on bagging their third of the game as a chance involving both goal scorers saw Abdulmalik play in Drozd, whose effort sailed over the crossbar.
Barnsley continued looking for their opening back into the match. Another opportunity from Tedić went wide following a good bit of work from the Serbian striker, muscling past two defenders before his shot went just past the woodwork.
However, Millwall went on to kill the game off with 13 minutes remaining when Nino Adom-Malaki’s strike from the edge of the box took a fortunate deflection off a red shirt, leading to the ball bouncing into our goal.
The Lions weren’t finished yet and, following a Barnsley attack, George Walker added a fourth to compound the Reds’ misery on a disappointing afternoon in the capital.
FULL-TIME: Millwall 4-0 Barnsley
REDS XI: Trialist (GK), Hassan-Smith, Pickard, Lancaster (C), Moon, Ariely, Ackroyd, Helliwell, Tedić, Nejman, Butterfill.
Subs: Ravenhill (GK), D Benson, Makiessi, Hartley, Dyer.
