34 MILLWALL
IT WENT WITH A HITCH!
www.newsatden.co.uk
EXCLUSIVE
By John Kelly
johnk@southwarknews.co.uk
SHAUN WILLIAMS was guilty of an act of deception in May.
It was understandable. Go back two years and he couldn’t get into the Millwall team, kept out of the side by Ben Thompson and Jimmy Abdou. He came on in the League One play-off final against Barnsley, a last roll of the dice but Millwall went down 3-1 at Wembley. So it’s hard to blame him for keeping a secret when such a huge opportunity arrived, though it takes a brave man to keep Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane in the dark. Williams was on holidays the week after Millwall’s 1-0 win over Aston Villa on the last day of the season when his then partner, now wife Sinead checked his phone and saw a worrying number of missed calls from his mum and dad. When they rang back they were puzzled when excited shouts of “congratulations” immediately rushed down the line. At the age of 31, Williams had received his first senior international call-up for the Republic of Ireland. One problem: games against France on Monday May 28 and the United States the following Saturday June 2 were either side of his wedding. Everything had been arranged and families and friends flown out for the week-long celebrations. The previous week, Williams had played in Celtic captain Scott Brown’s testimonial, but no caps were awarded for that. The squad for the international doubleheader was being announced a few days later, and Williams made the decision not to inform O’Neill about his wedding. There was no way he wasn’t going to be involved if he could help it. It worked out in the end – just. “When I was away for the first game [Celtic] I was thinking, ‘I’m not going to tell them I’m getting married because I want to see if I get into the squad for the next two games’,” Williams explained. “When I got into the squad I didn’t want it to be a once-off and anyway the first game didn’t count as a cap.
Southwark News, Thursday July 12 2018
Midfielder Williams almost missed his wedding in bid to win first international cap
“I was going back to Spain on the Wednesday preparing for the wedding, the squad was being announced the day before and then meeting up that Thursday. I flew to Spain Wednesday morning with the missus and kids, the wedding dress and the whole lot. Then I flew back that night to Dublin. The France match was on Monday, then I was getting married the following Thursday. “When the squad was announced I thought, ‘Okay, shit, I’m going to have to tell them’. “I rang Martin at a minute past nine on the Wednesday morning and had to leave a message. So he rang me back 20 minutes later. I told him I’d a bit of an issue and he said, ‘oh yeah, what’s that?’ I explained I was getting married on the
31st and he said, ‘oh right, I wasn’t aware of that. Congratulations. Look, we’ll leave it this time’. “So I said, ‘what do you mean? No, no, no, I can do the France game!’ Fortunately he agreed and I was able to go to Paris for that and then fly to Spain for the wedding. I missed the America game, but it was the best-case scenario considering all that was going on.” Williams was on one of the biggest highs of his career, but, 59 minutes into the game at the Stade de France, his heart sank. However, he wasn’t going to take the potential disappointment of not getting on the pitch lying down, so he sprung up off the bench. “The manager had put on [Harry] Arter and [David] Meyler,” Williams recalls.
Main: Shaun Williams' penalty was enough to beat Aston Villa on the last day - before a manic summer started the following week Above: The midfielder made his Ireland debut against France at the Stade de France.
“They were the two centre-mids so I didn’t think I was going to get on. I was fuming. “It was pissing rain, worst rain I’ve ever seen. I thought, ‘I’m going to have to do something here’. So I went out and warmed up for about 20 minutes in that rain. Luckily enough he must have seen me so I got on for fifteen minutes. It was amazing.” Williams’ direct opponents in midfield were Paul Pogba and Blaise Matuidi, two players who have starred in the World Cup. Williams said he had no nerves, and he almost scored in injury-time, Ireland’s only shot on goal in the entire game, but saw his shot saved by Steve Mandanda. “I’m normally critical of my own
Target practice as Lions seal five-Dart finish PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY Saturday July 8 at Princes Park Dartford 0-5 Millwall
By John Kelly
johnk@southwarknews.co.uk
MOST OF the boxes ticked for Millwall, except for a missed penalty by Jed Wallace – and even then the ball still ended up in the back of the net.
Wallace had a bite from twelve yards, then a nibble, before Steve Morison gobbled the cherry by firing home. It was Millwall’s fifth goal on Saturday afternoon and told the story of the opposition they were up against, not one of whom went to help his goalkeeper Deren Ibrahim as Millwall had some target practice. That was Millwall’s fifth goal before the break. Wallace had given them the lead in the second minute when he
curled home direct from a free-kick after Aiden O’Brien had been fouled. Wallace scored his second in the 31st minute before three minutes later O’Brien headed home Shaun Williams’ quick free-kick. The Lions were switched on; Dartford dozing in the summer sunshine. The visitors scored their third goal in five minutes in the 36th minute, and it was the pick of the bunch. Relieved of his few defensive duties Mahlon Romeo strode forward from right-back to fire home from outside the box. What can you read into pre-season friendlies? Very little. On the same weekend last year Millwall toiled before coming from behind to draw 11 at the same ground. Some of these players might not be with the club when the season kicks
off on August 4. Lions boss Neil Harris handed a trial to Lazar Stojsavljevic, a 20-year-old Serbian centre-back who was with Woking last season and partnered Jake Cooper at Princes Park. Others such as Harry Donovan will go out on loan, a route also open to James Brown and Danny McNamara, who were the full-backs in the secondhalf team. Byron Webster made his senior comeback after ten months out with a knee injury, wearing the captain’s armband alongside Murray Wallace, making his debut after his summer move from Scunthorpe. Millwall could have had more goals in the second half. Tom Elliott had the ball in the net but it was ruled out for offside.
performance, but I was really pleased with this one,” Williams added. “I had paid for my missus, my sister, dad, my missus’ dad and my best mate to go from Spain to France. The game was at 9pm so Ireland booked me a flight for the next morning and a hotel room. We stayed up all night drinking, we didn’t even need to room!” Despite having so little rest this summer, Williams is desperate to add to his one cap. Ireland play a friendly against Poland in September. “I only spent about five nights in my own house over the summer – I took eighteen flights over the closed season, between going to Ireland, Scotland, over and back to Spain and to France. “But it was all worth it. I have to do everything I can to be involved again.”
Darts goalkeeper Matthew Funnell also foiled Lee Gregory. Eighteen-year-old winger Mason Saunders-Henry caught the eye with some strong running after the break, and maybe this is the season when another youngster will break through and make an impact as Romeo did in 2015-16.
Millwall line-ups First-half XI: 4-4-2: Archer; Romeo, Stojsavljevic (trialist), Cooper, McLaughlin; J Wallace, Donovan, Williams, O’Brien; Onyedinma, Morison. Second-half XI: 4-4-2: Martin; Brown, Webster, M Wallace, McNamara; Ferguson, Thompson, Tunnicliffe, Saunders-Henry (Olaofe, 86); Gregory, Elliott.
Jake cooper
Visit www.newsatden.co.uk for all the latest Millwall news online