Millwall vs Stoke City. Sky Bet Championship.
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Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Millwall and Stoke City at The Den as Charlie Cresswell scored twice on his Lions debut to seal an opening day victory for Gary Rowett's side.
Saturday 30 July 2022 20:08, UK
Charlie Cresswell scored twice on his debut as Millwall opened their Championship campaign with a comfortable 2-0 victory against disappointing Stoke at The Den.
The Lions have long been a team capable of threatening from set-pieces and it was from this means that they claimed both of their goals, with their lead rarely being threatened.
The Potters, meanwhile, have been stuck in mid-table purgatory for the past few seasons and their insipid display in south London will need to be improved upon greatly if they are to even reach that this time around.
Benik Afobe, who left Stoke for Millwall permanently over the summer, had an early opening for the hosts but failed to anticipate Billy Mitchell's cross falling for him at the back post and could not control.
But it did not take much longer for two of the Lions' new arrivals to combine for the opening goal, as ex-Hull playmaker George Honeyman's corner was met by a thumping header by Leeds loanee Cresswell in the 12th minute.
The early breakthrough did not do much in the way of opening the game up, with the Potters in particular finding it a real struggle to create openings.
They were almost gifted an equaliser, however, when Tyrese Campbell's shot from edge of the area squirmed out of Bartosz Bialkowski's grasp only for the goalkeeper to grab the ball just before it could cross the line.
The Lions fairly comfortably held their lead going into the break and they twice came close to doubling it in the early stages of the second half.
Afobe did well to cut inside Ben Wilmot before bending his shot from a narrow angle over, with Stoke goalkeeper Joe Bursik then making a good save to keep out Tom Bradshaw's effort.
Josh Laurent sent a rare shot for Stoke over from Harry Clarke's lay-off before Cresswell almost had his second headed goal of the match, from Scott Malone's corner with Bursik's reflex save preventing it.
Cresswell was not to be denied, though, as he took advantage of some awful marking by the Potters from another Malone corner to volley in from close range and double the hosts' advantage in the 65th minute.
That goal effectively killed off the contest as Stoke hardly looked like threatening the hosts' advantage when it was at just one goal, let alone two.
The Lions were able to give record signing Zian Flemming a gentle introduction in the last 15 minutes, safe in the knowledge three opening-day points were in the bag.
Millwall's Gary Rowett: "I just said to him, 'it doesn't get any better than that, does it'? I thought as a young player making his Millwall debut, he showed us what he is all about. I spoke to him on Tuesday - he's worked incredibly hard and has been excellent in pre-season - and I just said 'look, I'm really impressed with you, but you might have to be a bit patient with the centre-halves we've got'.
"Hutchy pulled out in training towards the end of the week, but it made team selection easy and he went straight in the team. It wasn't just the goals, as impressive as they were with the way he attacked both goals, it was the way he defended. He got a yellow card in the first half and I think he showed great control and great composure to know when to step in and when to come out with the ball."
Stoke's Michael O'Neill: "We changed the markers at half-time because we were concerned about it. We've used markers in a semi-zonal system, so there are different areas, but in terms of defending set-pieces I'm not sure we've got any personnel in the building that would have given us any more added strength in that situation. That's the disappointing aspect of it.
"I knew we would have to deal with (Jake) Cooper in particular but obviously it was the other lad, Cresswell, who was a threat as well and found space in behind. We got blocked and if you're a marker, you can't get blocked and ultimately if you look at the second goal, it's a volley and not a header. For him to get a volley in that area of the penalty area is very disappointing."
