Welcome back, then, the Dockers Derby. We really must do this again. On a lovely soft September afternoon on the Bermondsey peninsula, watched by an outrage-ready media multiverse, something unexpected happened at the Den. A really good football match broke out.
Not wild or violent. No shameful scenes that nobody (trans: everybody) wants to see. Not in the stands or the streets at least: the only really sour note was an allegation of spitting against West Ham’s Taty Castellanos, which will now presumably be investigated.
Otherwise this was a thrilling, high-quality 2-2 draw between Millwall and West Ham, a game where for the full 90 minutes nothing outside the Den’s rattly corrugated stands seemed to exist, right down to the sleepy London commuter trains chugging past the open corners.
Alex Neil’s evolving team produced a first half of sustained and artful intensity to take a 2-0 lead. West Ham reminded everyone why they were relegated last season by forgetting to turn up, before dominating the second half and scoring twice.
There was even a moment of late drama, controversy and, let’s face it, blatant cheating, as Kyrell Lisbie robbed Mohamadou Kanté then ran through on goal all alone, only to be pulled to the floor by the same opponent. It was an obvious but also essentially useless red card. Lisbie had a fair chance of scoring the winner. A free-kick outside the box was rich reward for an act of cynicism.
In the end a draw was a fair result in a game where football, of all things, was the winner. Half an hour before kick-off the Den was already crackling with a rare kind of energy. But then this is an authentic derby, a game with context and hinterland, albeit that original source of tension hasn’t existed since the docks were abandoned and then rebuilt.
Quick GuideChampionship roundup: Swansea go top as Boro save point
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Swansea moved to the top of the table after Stephen Eustaquio’s first goal for the club earned a 2-1 victory at Lincoln. The Swans turned the game on its head after half-time and, barring a big win for West Brom over Wolves on Sunday, Vítor Matos’s (pictured) side will head into the international break top of the pile.
Middlesbrough needed a late equaliser from Adilson Malanda to salvage a point and a 2-2 draw at Birmingham. The defender was on hand to punish Birmingham goalkeeper James Beadle’s handling error when the home side seemingly had the game won after coming from a goal down.
Burnley were denied a first league victory since February as Mohammed Fuseini’s dramatic stoppage-time equaliser earned Derby a 1-1 draw at Turf Moor. Zeki Amdouni’s 34th-minute far-post header looked to have given Burnley a much-needed victory to ease the pressure on their new head coach Nicky Hayen, but Fuseini’s equaliser leaves Burnley winless and bottom of the table.
Paul Smyth scored a 90th-minute equaliser for 10-man QPR as they came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with struggling Preston. Johnny Kenny’s first goals for North End – including an opener after 64 seconds – left them in a great position, but Kwame Poku pulled a goal back and Smyth’s late strike rescued a point for the west London side.
Stoke staged a fine comeback to stun Sheffield United with a 2-1 win at the Bet365 Stadium despite Kalvin Phillips’s first league goal for five and a half years. Two goals in the space of 11 second-half minutes from Jack McGlynn and Sam Gallagher enabled the home side to make it four wins in their past five league fixtures.
Wrexham secured a smash-and-grab 2-1 victory against wasteful Southampton courtesy of Keven Schlotterbeck’s late own goal. Phil Parkinson’s men headed into the game reeling from a 6-0 hammering at West Ham and desperate to kickstart their campaign, and they edged a late win as Schlotterbeck turned in Jacques Ekomie’s cross.
Cardiff’s long wait for a first win on their Championship return is over after Jack Moylan scored twice in their 3-1 home victory over Charlton, while Colby Bishop struck his first goal since April to give Portsmouth a 2-2 draw with Blackburn at Fratton Park. Press Association
The deep history is real: a battle for work on the docks, a river in between, a club that moved from your actual back yard (the mill wall in question is just over the Thames). Even if these days it’s more a matter of muscle memory, familial tradition, internet blather. Even the docks are quays now. Although there are some really good artisan coffee shops around the place if you look.
Otherwise this was also a self-contained media event. When the West Ham bus arrived at 11.30am it felt like there were more influencers with collar mics, more rubbernecking reporters than actual enraged docker-descendants. Disappointingly for some, perhaps, the only real threat of violence around the ground all day was the danger of an accidental mass entangling from the endless Stone Island shoulder badges on show.
West Ham were always favourites to win here. Their most recent annual turnover was £226m. Millwall are on a tenth of that. Chronic mismanagement gave us this game. Boardroom incompetence made it happen. And playing squads aside, Millwall were hugely focused from the first thunderously claimed loose ball.
Neil has introduced a more fluid passing game in the last year, but this was all about energy and tempo. Early on Zak Sturge left Jarrod Bowen on the floor to vast approving roars, then slid a pass to Taïryk Arconte, who couldn’t get his shot away.
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And with 16 minutes gone Millwall took the lead with a goal that came in stages. First Mads Hermansen made a brilliant one-handed save from Mark Sykes, then another one, leaping up, from Arconte. The ball looped across the six-yard box to Caleb Taylor, who half-volleyed it elegantly into the net.
The Den erupted with a noise so visceral the Lewisham council incinerator at the Cold Blow Lane end (it is, Millwall fans will tell you, a world-class incinerator) must have shivered on its foundations. And they kept on coming. Arconte made and then spurned another good opportunity. Jenson Metcalfe spanked a loose ball from 35 yards that dipped and swerved and pinged back off the crossbar. And in first-half added time it was 2-0, again from a long throw from the right. This time the ball fell to Camiel Neghli, who took a nice touch from under his feet and smashed it into the net.
Quick GuideLeagues One and Two: Russell Martin booed after Leicester draw
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Ten-man Barnsley came from a goal down to rescue a point from a 1-1 League One draw with Leicester, who struggled to break down the hosts despite having a man advantage for more than an hour. Liam Cullen opened the scoring for Leicester, but Reyes Cleary earned a point for the home side, who had Luca Connell sent off in the first half.
The 4,300 Leicester fans booed the players and the manager, Russell Martin, at full time. They now have nine points from seven games after relegation.
Mansfield came from two goals down to grab a point from a 2-2 draw with Burton. Burton were two goals to the good through Deji Oshilaja’s own goal and Jack Armer’s second of the season, but the Stags responded with Michael Smith’s goal before half-time and Lucas Akins netting against his former club.
In League Two, Rochdale lifted themselves off the bottom with a 2-0 win against Oldham. The home side took the lead seven minutes in. Charlie Tasker and Jonny Smith combined down the right, and Tasker’s low delivery in behind the retreating defence was swept into the roof of the net by Dan Moss. Dale delivered a sucker punch when they doubled the lead on 62 minutes. Matt Hudson’s kick towards the halfway line was met by Baba Adeeko, who headed the ball forward for Dajaune Brown to advance into the penalty area, sidestep Donervon Daniels and slam a firm drive into the bottom corner.
Walsall scored late in each half to edge past struggling Port Vale 2-0 and heap pressure on the visiting manager, Jon Brady. Vale fans called for Brady’s sacking and booed off their players after Andrew Dallas’s first goal for Walsall sealed victory in the 89th minute, adding to James Connolly’s deft flick in first-half stoppage time. Press Association
Pablo and Kanté came on at half-time and West Ham began to turn the screw. Bowen drew a fine save from Filip Marschall. Arne Engels spanked a shot hard into the head of Jake Cooper, who staggered once, remembered where he was, then just walked it off.
On 74 minutes West Ham pulled one back via Kanté’s powerful low drive. They were hunting this now. Bowen seemed to be running every element of the game. A series of corners were bundled away, until finally Konstantinos Mavropanos headed the equaliser.
Millwall held on until the red card, then West Ham held on to the end. At the final whistle there was even some minor chest-bumping stuff between Bowen and Mathis Servais, traditions preserved, the family line respected, followed by a chorus of “you’ll run out of Bermondsey” from the Millwall fans. It will be more a case of regional trains these days, back to the places beyond the riverside high-rises. But this was a wonderful game, and a fitting tribute to the enduring power of all that.