Millwall 0-2 Bolton Wanderers: Player Ratings

Wanderers dominated a pretty poor Millwall side and came out 2-0 victors at The New Den last night. Here are our player ratings for last night's 14 winning Wanderers.

GK Mark Howard - 7: Was rarely called upon and tested even less by a poor Millwall attack. But he was alert to a couple of goal bound attempts, particularly a header from Steve Morison from a free-kick and a cross that was deflected goalwards off a defender.

RB Lawrie Wilson - 7: One of the better games I've seen our Lawrie have, he looked solid at right back and was rarely tested. We saw very little of him in an attacking sense, but I'm pretty sure that was a tactical thing. Definitely a better option than Lewis Buxton.

CB Mark Beevers - 9: An absolute colossus in defence. I've seen him several times now and I still don't think I've seen him lose a header. Responded to the Millwall fans' jeers - he was one of several ex-Millwall players in our ranks - by putting in a superbly dominant defensive display.

CB David Wheater - 9: Big Wheats was almost as impressive defensively as his partner in crime, and looked calm and composed throughout. He topped his performance off with a superb volley into the bottom corner late on.

LB Andrew Taylor - 7: Looked solid in the face of a torrent of unwarranted abuse from a small band of moronic Millwall fan in the first half. I have no idea what that was all about - see my theory in the match report - but on this performance Taylor is thankfully a much better option than Dean Moxey.

RM Sammy Ameobi - 6: Scored an absolute better of a goal (below) but was pretty anonymous that moment of brilliance aside. Is that moment alone enough? In league One yes probably, but it'd be nice to see more of Ameobi running at the defence and getting crosses in.

Great goal by @SammyAmeobiNews tonight for Bolton Wanderers #BWFC pic.twitter.com/4Q1WFPFYJF

— St James Park United (@SJPunited) October 18, 2016

CM Tom Thorpe - 6: This is the first time I've seen Thorpe play, and I was impressed. He looked comfortable in midfield and did a good job of breaking play up. It's a shame he got injured after half an hour and he looked in a fair amount of discomfort, but hopefully he'll be back soon.

CM Jay Spearing - 8:The little man was excellent again in the heart of midfield. He made several key tackles to break up Millwall attacks, then put in two superb challenges in our penalty area to prevent dangerous situations which, if he had mistimed them slightly, would have been clear penalties. He also cleared one goal bound shot off the line in the second half - another all-round solid performance from Spearing, who is clearly too good for League One.

LM Zach Clough - 7: I remain unconvinced that left-wing is the best position for Clough, but he played well last night. He had a great chance to put us 2-0 up on the stroke of half-time but lacked the pace to get away from the last man, and looked dangerous on the counter attack in the second half - including a great bit of play to nearly hand a goal on a plate to Vela. The fact that Clough was the only player booked by a totally incompetent referee was a disgrace. I'm not sure whether he was booked for an innocuous tackle deep in our own half or subsequently ‘throwing away' the ball to just a few feet away from the Millwall player, but either way it was never a booking. Some of the following Millwall fouls on Clough were far more deserving of yellows, particularly seeing as their right back hacked Clough down at least three times.

AM Josh Vela - 7: I really like Vela in this new found attacking role. He worked hard, got into some great positions and was unlucky not to score after supporting a great run by Clough. His link-up play with Clough is a particular highlight.

CF Gary Madine - 7: This was another thankless task for Madine, battling against two centre halves who were seemingly solely focused on trying to give the big man a bear hug. Madine held the ball up and led the line well, but was starved of service as we barely got any crosses into the box for him. Probably his best moment was a superb diving headed clearance on the edge of the 6-yard box from a good corner in the first half.

Substitutes:

CM Derik Osede (replaced Thorpe 30) - 6: It was good to see Derik back on the pitch and I thought he did alright alongside Spearing. There was one scary moment where he decided the best plan was to try and dribble his way out of danger on the half way line, but he recovered and spread the play out to the left pretty impressively. Seemed more than capable of stepping up should Thorpe be sidelined, and I'd much prefer to see him in midfield than Liam Trotter.

RM James Henry - 5 (replaced Ameobi 69: Did very little as Bolton looked to protect their 1-0 lead, so little in fact that I don't remember him touching the ball.

LM Jamie Proctor - N/A (replaced Clough 89): Replaced the booked Clough after the late second goal and didn't have time to get involved.