Could do little about the goals - the first deflected and the second a whiplash opportunity from a Wallace mistake. Made a confident save from Moreira and commanded his defence well, although his distribution could perhaps improve.placeholder image
Could do little about the goals - the first deflected and the second a whiplash opportunity from a Wallace mistake. Made a confident save from Moreira and commanded his defence well, although his distribution could perhaps improve. | Getty Images

Millwall player ratings - 'Livewire' 9/10 but 'sloppy' 5 vs Nottingham Forest in pre-season friendly

Millwall can take positives from a 2-1 friendly defeat to Nottingham Forest in Spain.

A positive start from the Lions saw Neil Harris urging his side to make the most of a Nottingham Forest high line with Tom Bradshaw and Romain Esse willing runners on the flanks but it took just 20 minutes for the Premier League opposition to open the scoring.

Former Newcastle United and Burnley man Chris Wood was the one to hit the back of the net but it was a beautiful lob from Morgan Gibbs-White that split the Millwall defence and a Nicolas Dominguez header that allowed the New Zealander to slot home.

With a goal to their name, Nuno Espirito Santo's men grew into the game, dominating the ball in the middle of the park as the first half meandered on. Moreira came the closest to adding a second on the stroke of half time as he stole in on the right flank but new signing Lukas Jensen saved well.

Nottingham Forest fielded a completely different starting XI to the one which started the match after the break, with Millwall just turning to Murray Wallace and George Honeyman from the bench. The former of those two Lions' men was at fault for the Forest second, Ryan Yates slotting the ball through his legs and into the path of Callum Hudson-Odoi, who finished calmly.

If the London club were to cause Nottingham Forest problems, it was going to be through the lively Esse and that proved the case with 65 minutes on the clock. The winger jinked around two opposition players before slotting a clever through ball into the path of Tom Bradshaw, who hit the bar under pressure from a Forest defender.

With 20 minutes left to play, Harris turned once again to his bench to give more minutes to players. Macauly Langstaff, Aidomo Emakhu and Ryan Leonard coming onto the field for Bradshaw, Duncan Watmore and Casper De Norre.

It took Emakhu a matter of seconds to make a difference, gifted a superb ball through by Joe Bryan, which he latched onto and whipped home past Mats Sels.

Alfie Massey, Wes Harding and Kevin Nisbet all saw a few minutes towards the end of the night too as the match petered out to a fairly tame finish in Spain. Here's how the Millwall players rated at the Pinatar Arena Stadium on Tuesday evening.

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