At the Devils' den

It was cold ... it was freezing and yes, in certain Jose Mourinho's words getting a bit too familiar, the better team lost. But I was not at the Stamford Bridge, in the home of a team who used to be called "the Pensioners" not too long ago but now invigorated by numerous cash injections..

I was at New Den, the home of the club whose fans pride themselves with the slogan "No one likes us but we don't care". Millwall FC.

And the better team lost this night I dare say (ok, the point should be getting across, it was obviously my team Norwich City FC)

To make the matters worse, I had to sit out the match in the middle of Millwall-fans (yes, my vocabulary increased with some phrases - but better not repeated here).

Since I last time wrote about the fortunes of the Canaries, their plight or should I say unsteady flight has continued. Before this match they had encouragingly managed to beat Luton Town at Carrow Road (by the way, the first Norwich City FC home-venue was indeed called the Nest).

And this match did start definitely better than the 3-0 thrashing that I had to endure at Loftus Road, home of QPR a month back or so. Craig Fleming was on the bench (sensible decision) and even Gary Doherty playing surprisingly well, our central defence looked fine.

Unfortunately my man of the match against QPR, Dean Ashton, didn't get to one single goal-scoring opportunity in this match. He had apparently some injury worries though.

At the end of the first half, Millwall fans at the Lower West Stand, section 30, (without a homewin all season) seemed to be celebrating a goal-line clearance from us like (probably) reaching the FA Cup Final in 2004 against Manchester United. (we are not on a formidable away-win-run if it really needs reiterating).

Needless to say also, since that many things have changed within both clubs. Players sold, money thrown out at wrong things, important players missing, the usual stuff that takes you to that slippery slope towards oblivion (or the wrong half of the Championship table anyway, very very far from the promised land called the Premiership where Jose does his bit of moaning).

Perhaps indicative of the state of Millwall is that the announcement of the new chairman (sorry, don't remember the name - and don't care either) received only some lukewarm applause. (After the match i overheard a fan wondering if he is going to "dig into his pockets" and a fellow-fan saying dunno but the pockets are apparently not even that deep than the current chairman's (who has not put even Abramovich's smallest yacht's worth was my interpretation)

But cack to the match. Back to the future.

Some half-chances occurred one way and another - just about enough to get some blood circulation going due to occasional need to stand up. Then, after about an hour's worth(lessness) of play, Darren Huckerby (who funnily enough scored at Highbury last season against Arsenal) was clean through on goal, a defender desperately chasing him. Hucks fell over, but the referee did not point to the spot. Of course the "wanker" - that's Millwall supporters, not me! - waves play on, the crowd got wild in shouting their abuse ("Dive, submarine commander" seemed to be the wittier verson, another being referral to onanation and selling the products thereof).

And soon, a goalmouth scramble at the other end of the pitch, and Millwall hit the back of the net. 1-0. And so it stayed, with some of their players refining their versions of "dying men on the pitch" after having been anywhere near our players. No dive accusations to my ears then.

Ok, I felt increasingly bitter (no, i had had no pints), our attempts to get level lacked vision if not effort and in the end Millwall's (bottom of The Championship) first homewin of the season was reality.

Evidently this must have been due to the "deep thinking" of their manager Colin Lee.

A quote from the surprisingly interesting (otherwise) match programme, section "Management speak". "Getting points is the priority. However much we want to play good football and pass the ball around, at the end of the day the points are all that matters. I've THOUGHT VERY DEEPLY ABOUT THIS THE PAST FORTNIGHT ...(blahblah)"

Some blossoming ideas for a career as a philsopher if the axe falls you have, Colin... And by the way, in the web there are random sentence generators in the web, Colin, that do a rather decent job as well. Seriously.

The end result is, now, that I am ever more determined to see my team at least score a goal live this season. (180 mins so far, seen none). If Nigel Worthington is in charge of Norwich then anymore, not so sure. But I felt for the team and him tonight. It is a long and cold enough journey home with not much to take home at all.

Just have to keep believing in the long run justice prevails. Seen Norwich live six times, four draws and two losses now. I mean, statistically speaking, it must happen sometime soon ...

Over and out.