MILLWALL boss Alex Neil expects Charlton Athletic to make Saturday’s south London derby a “really difficult game”.
The Lions welcome the Addicks to The Den in the latest meeting between the rivals, a fixture Millwall have not lost since March 1996.
That run looked under threat when the sides met earlier this season at The Valley, but Ra’ees Bangura-Williams scored an 88th-minute equaliser, fourteen minutes after Charlton full-back Kayne Ramsay was sent off, to secure a 1-1 draw.
The teams have experienced contrasting fortunes since. Millwall are competing for the play-offs in fifth, while Charlton sit eighteenth and are in danger of being embroiled in a relegation scrap in their first season back in the Championship after a five-year hiatus.
Despite that disparity, Neil anticipates a stern test.
“I expect them to make it a really difficult game,” Neil told NewsAtDen. “I think against the ball they’re very hard to play against. They make it a 50-50 game in their setup. I think Nathan [Jones] has done a really good job there.
“You spoke about them having a few rough patches. I think perspective is always needed. Charlton have been in League One in recent years and are now competing in the Championship. If I was them at the start of this season, if you stay in the Championship when you first come up, that’s the first threshold you want to try and reach.
“At the moment, they’re making a good fist of that. We know it’s going to be a really tough match. I’ve watched a lot of their games recently, preparing for this game. It’s going to be a tough game for us. We’re aware of that. We just need to make sure we do what we do well.”
