Do You Want To Win?
Saturday, 5th December 2020
Over the past month, Tyrone had learned to put on a brave face as the pressure mounted. With not a single win in November and only three points from the last six games, Millwall were against 16th placed Derby today.
Millwall had nosedived from the top of the table down to 10th after their fortunate draw against Blackburn Rovers in the midweek fixture.
Tyrone made a point of showing up at the players’ car park half an hour before to plan out what he was going to do today.
His assistant manager Adam Barrett and club captain Alex Pearce showed up next before the rest of the squad began to pull into the car park, leaving their keys with the club attendant.
Just over 14,000 fans were in attendance on the day which was a sharp drop since the table-topping days of around 18,000-19,000 per game at The Den.
“Do you want the crowds back like we saw at the beginning of the season? Do you want to see us back into the play-off spots, later on back in the automatics?” Tyrone asked his squad as they put on their matchday shirts.
The squad nodded silently with most players’ heads looking down at their feet.
“Do you want to end this shitty run that’s driven us from fascinating, entertaining and overachievers to flops, bottlers and underachievers? Do you want to stay in this league forever - or worse - drop a division down?”
The squad murmured “Yes” quietly as heads began to pick up.
“Do you want to be able to look your teammates in the eyes after 90 minutes and say that you fought for them today? Do you want to be applauded, cheered and loved by those incredible set of supporters out there and at home?”
“Yes” the squad responded much louder this time.
“You lot: do you want to win?!” Tyrone shouted.
The response was emphatic. “YES!” the squad shouted, getting on their feet, banging their fists against the wall and embracing each other as the studs clacked against the concrete floor.
The team started out with an exceptional response, Jed Wallace travelled with ease in the box before squaring it to Troy Parrott who simply struck it past Marshall at his near post after 10 minutes.
However, the lead didn’t last long before Derby’s Duane Holmes ran through the heart of our defence without challenge before beating Bialkowski with a tidy finish.
At half-time with the score at 1-1, Tyrone laid into his defence for leaking what was a shambolic showing in defence. He left on a similarly positive note to his pre-match teamtalk, though, asking once more if his team wanted to win.
The game dragged on, though, still level with no real chances for either side. Tyrone turned to look at his bench and made eye contact with his assistant Adam Barrett.
Tyrone didn’t want Barrett as his right-hand man as he knew that there was bitterness over him losing out on the first-team job to Tyrone. He sensed that Barrett almost wanted him to do badly, so he was the natural successor.
Barrett tilted his head to one side and opened his arms up as if to say he didn’t know what to do, as the clock slowly ticked down with two minutes left of the four added minutes.
Derby’s Knight hoofed the ball out and Millwall’s substitute right-back Hayden Muller - a youth academy product who Tyrone handed a first-team debut to this season - was walking past the technical area.
“Hayden!” Tyrone called him as he jogged over. “Launch it.” he ordered as the ball awaited him on the sideline.
The team piled into the area, with only one defender back for Millwall, they were vulnerable to an immediate counter attack if this was cleared.
Muller took his run-up to throw the ball in. As it looped, it seemed to spend an age dangling in the air. Tyrone could only see the orange-kitted frame of David Marshall coming to collect the ball in the air. Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, Troy Parrott leapt up before Marshall’s grasp and connected with the ball.
It seemed that it could have arguably been a foul, but to everyone, it didn’t matter. The Den sounded like 14,000 literal lions roaring as the ball bounced over the line and lightly tapped the back of the net before settling on the grass at the back of the net.
Hayden Muller ran up the touchline and leapt onto his manager, screaming with joy as Millwall finally dug themselves out of the hole for the first time this season and the first time throughout Henry’s tenure.
Adam Barrett could be seen in the corner of Tyrone’s eye, hugging some of the players on the bench that had approached him in celebration, but he did so without a smile on his face.
Tyrone would deal with Adam later, but for now, his team had to close out the game and then the celebration could start. And that is precisely what happened as Millwall secured their first win in seven games.
Tango: You would think so...
Justice: That eponym is sadly already reserved elsewhere
A win is a win
