Tuesday 5th December 1995. Millwall 0 (0) Charlton Athletic 2 (1) (Grant 7 67). The New Den. Att: 11,350
Millwall: Keller, Lavin, Thatcher, Newman (Forbes 46), Rogan, Stevens, Taylor (McRobert 61), Rae, (Doyle 69), Fuchs, Malkin, Van Blerk.
Charlton: Ammann, Humphrey, Stuart, Jones, Chapple (Balmer 41), Rufus, Newton, Grant (Williams 87), Robinson, Whyte (Mortimer 49), Bowyer.
Referee: Mike Pierce (Portsmouth).
Sent Off: Bowyer was sent off after 21 minutes for a second yellow card following fouls on Rae (17) and Newman (21). Stevens followed him after 57 minutes for striking Stuart in the face, which was seen by a linesman.
Arctic conditions: Snow fell throughout the game as the South was hit by arctic conditions, forcing the use of an orange ball.
This was Charltons first win over Millwall for 17 years and it heralded such a collapse in the Lions form that they went from being top at the begining of the evening to being relegated on the last day of the season.
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Millwall 0 Charlton Athletic 2
Millwall are beginning to feel the cold winds that are whipping round the top of the First Division. In blizzard conditions last night, they suffered yet another lurch in form in a match in which both teams had a man sent off before Charlton skated to victory.
That Millwall remain the division's leaders after a run of three defeats and two draws says something about its standards. Even given the difficulty presented by the snow-covered surface, they lacked both the poise and the potency of their opponents. Granted, Millwall had the upper hand for the 37 minutes in which they had 11 men to Charlton's 10, but in the end defeat could have been even heavier.
There had to be a doubt over whether the pitch was playable. Whirling snowflakes under the New Den lights made for a tremendous spectacle, but much of what went on at ground level was equally random. Alan Curbishley, the Charlton manager, admitted that his fear after his team had gone 2- 0 up was that the referee might abandon proceedings.
Charlton went ahead after only six minutes when a Millwall short corner came to nothing and John Robinson led a swift counter-attack with a run up the right wing. David Whyte headed down his cross and Kim Grant bundled the ball in. Everything was going Charlton's way, but they were putting in some challenges that not even the conditions could excuse, and in the 21st minute Lee Bowyer was sent off for a second bookable tackle.
They suffered a further setback in the 40th minute when Phil Chapple left the field on a stretcher with a knee injury, and with with Uwe Fuchs and Chris Malkin both going close, Charlton's resistance seemed at breaking point. But in the 57th minute the course of the match changed again when the linesman spotted Keith Stevens elbowing Jamie Stuart off the ball, and the Millwall centre-back was on his way.
Charlton's second goal came largely as a result of a fierce shot by Robinson from 20 yards which Kasey Keller could only parry. Following up, Grant must have been amazed at how little attention was paid him before he knocked the ball in. "That was the worst we've played since I've been here," Mick McCarthy, the Millwall manager, said. "We've gone from being a team that was unbeatable to a soft touch."
Whyte teed up Grant for a goal at the far end of the pitch, then Bowyer twice slid into late tackles after having been warned by Curbs to well curb the sliding tackles and although one up, ten man Charlton had to endure a lot of pressure, which to be fair they coped with pretty well until just after half-time when the thug Stevens was red-carded for elbowing Jamie Stuart in the face. After that the pressure eased with Charlton playing the ball around while we in the Stands tried to find some way to combat hypothermia. The killer blow though was Morts coming on and shortly after Grant tapped in from close range in front of us in the away end - cue delirium although many of us no doubt remembered being two up at the old Den and around five minutes left a few years prior to that before escaping with a 2-2 draw. That was never going to happen on this night and shortly after the Millwall fans started drifting away and the win was ours...getting home and digging the car out at Bromley was another matter but I made it somehow.
As I recall Millwall were top, but had lost to Watford the previous weekend, the following weekend they were caned 5-0 by Sunderland away and by the new year were in mid-table. With transfer deadline day approaching they were loaned two Russian internationals who apparently arrived with good pedigrees having helped their previous team to the title but were later described as the two most unprofessional footballers players ever to play for Millwall. One was injured and played little part, both looked barely fit and one as I recall got himself arrested for drinking and driving. Around this time the return leg was convincingly won also I think 2-0. All this ended when they were finally relegated on the last match against I think Ipswich or Portsmouth - despite not having been in the relegation zone at all during the season until losing that match. I think even then they had to rely on whoever was below them winning and doing so by a certain margin to leapfrog them on goal difference, whatever the exact mathematics were there was only a slim chance that Millwall would get relegated - but somehow they managed it. Their fans reacted traditionally - with a wave of rioting and ripped out the seats at the stadium they were playing at, again as is traditional they claimed it wasn't their fault that the seats ended up on the pitch...
Morts was a total genius that night. Bar Super Clives Hat-trick no other individual performance can touch that.
Too think he was only a sub that night too . . . . .shameful really
The mugs in the stand next to us were going totally crackers. Was winding them up big time.
Very very funny. Especially when Stevens got sent off. Tosser.
No, cancel that, we did not just beat them we humiliated them and Morts cameo role just summed up the difference between the clubs.
We are all about skill and verve and they are just a bunch of lowlife Deptford thugs.
One of the, if not THE, best away days.
walked all along Ilderten road towards home singing valley floyd road.
still amazed to this day that i didnt get the crap kicked out of me!!
Remember being hit with snow covered bottles after the game and then pushed into a phone box by some mug saying 'what's all this 'we hate Millwall?' - then looking down the road thinking I didn't have a hope in hell of getting away as the whole ground had iced over. Luckily his mates came along and decided they had bigger fish to fry than our little group of 16 year olds!
I used to work in Bermondsey. I had one or two enjoyable nights!
I remember thinking we were doomed when Bowyer got sent off despite the fact that we were leading. I guess all those years of fruitless visits to the Den shaped that particular emotion.
Abiding memories of Kim Grant's brace, Chapple waving to us from the stretcher, gloating gleefuly as the aptly named rhino followed Bowyer and 'The Morts Show' as he dazzled us in the snow. It was like he was doing to Millwall with a football, what we as fans had been itching to do to them for years, putting them in their place and he will be forever revered as a result.
Hardly noticed the cold at all!!
21 minutes later he was trotting back down the tunnel after a second yellow!
Empty seats everywhere. 90% of them had just got up and left the ground with 23 minutes to go. Loyal supporters LOL
Number two game ever for me, second only to the obvious Wembley 1998.
Almost made up for the heartbreak of the previous decade, especially at The Den in August 1989.
I remember the result and all the euphoria associated with it but just cant think what prevented me from going.
Thankfully they didn't know we were Charlton :-)
Can't be true Henry ... they are always so loyal and stay to the end ;-)
LOL
Had to laugh a few seasons after that when a Millwall supporter tried to persuade me that they'd made a profit on Sergei Yuran and AN Other USSR star! Just looking at our team there's so many decent players who were bought for very little money even in that era. Loved watching Mort's even if it seemed a rare occurance in winter!