EFL make officials decision ahead of Preston North End v Millwall

Millwall drew 1-1 with West Brom at the Den on Saturday afternoon as they now look towards Tuesday’s trip to Preston North End. The contest was initially due to be played on February 8 but was pushed back due to the Lions’ progression in the FA Cup.

They beat Leeds United on the date they were initially set to play Preston with that win at Elland Road teeing up a London derby against Crystal Palace in the fifth round. Both goals in the game with West Brom came inside a seven-minute spell as Jake Cooper opened the scoring on 19 minutes but the Baggies got back in it with an own goal from Joe Bryan.

Millwall boss Alex Neil said: “I thought we started the game really well, I thought we deserved our goal, but there was just that five-minute spell. It starts with a free-kick we put straight in the keeper’s hands, they break down the right, we don’t cover the space which we should do and we end up bundling the ball into our own net. You could probably see there was a little bit of a lack of confidence at that point – the crowd started to groan a little bit in the fact that they see what we see, which is ‘what have you just done?’

“You’ve let the game drift when you don’t need to, so that was the frustration. I asked them to go out second half and make sure we try and fix it and try and play as well as you did do for large parts of the first half, and I thought they did and probably even more.”

Officials selected for Preston trip

For Tuesday’s visit to Preston, Matthew Donohue has been selected as the referee by the EFL. Andrew Fox and Andrew Dallison will be his assistants while the fourth official is Stephen Martin.

Donohue has taken charge of 17 Championship games this season. He has been the man in the middle three times for North End but just once for Millwall. He took charge of the Lions’ 1-0 home loss to automatic promotion hopefuls Sheffield United. Two Blades players were booked in that game but no other cards were produced. His most recent game involving Preston was a 2-1 loss for the Lancashire club against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road. His other matches in charge were in 0-0 draws with Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers.

Donohue has sent a Preston player off in each of his games in charge of the Deepdale club this season, with the 0-0 draw against Blackburn seeing nine yellow cards and two red cards.

What form are Preston in?

Paul Heckingbottom’s side are unbeaten in four of their last five Championship games, winning three. They drew 0-0 with fierce rivals Burnley on Saturday afternoon. Heckingbottom reflected after claiming that point: “I’m really pleased with what I saw. The level of performance was really good, really strong against one of the top teams in the league, so it’s a good point.

“I'm pleased with the point, but I'm even more pleased with the performance to be honest. Burnley have the best defensive record and that shows. They are the best team without the ball in the league. I think we are one of the best teams as well without the ball, but we do it in a totally different way to them.

“It sort of panned out that way on the pitch, but I'm honestly really pleased with the performance. I enjoyed watching it. The only negative for me was not being part of the atmosphere and being on the sideline where you feel totally immersed in it. Instead, I was a spectator today and you feel less influential from up there.”