Into the Lions Den
It's a date in the Lions Den for Martin Allen and his Cheltenham Town side at the weekend when they take on high-flying Millwall in League One.
This will be the Robins third trip to the South London stadium and they are yet to gain a single point at this venue. Both previous fixtures have ended in narrow defeats for Cheltenham.
Millwall boss Kenny Jacket has made a few clever acquisitions over he summer months and listed below are all the closed season in's and out's at the New Den.
In: Karl Moore (Man City, loan), Tresor Kandol (Leeds Utd, loan), Tony Craig (Crystal Palace, undisclosed), Nadjim Abdou (Plymouth Argyle, free), Ashley Grimes (Manchester City, undisclosed), David Forde (Cardiff City, free).
Out: Lenny Pidgley Woking, loan), Bas Savage (Tranmere, free), Tom Brighton (St Mirren, free), Gavin Grant (Wycombe, free), Chris Zebroski (Wycombe, £20,000), Chris Day, Mark Phillips, Andrew Callaghan, Ross Gaynor, Ryan James, Rhys Evans, Zoom Bakayogo (all released).
Supporters of Millwall will be desperate for Jacket to get their side back up and out of League One this term.
Similar to the Robins, this is now Millwall's third consecutive season playing at this level. However, unlike Cheltenham who were promoted into this league, the Lions found themselves in League One following relegation from the Championship at the end of 2005/06.
They finished just above halfway at the end of the 2006/07 campaign, but last term were just two places and only one point ahead of the Robins when it all ended in May.
On the opening day of this season they were desperately unlucky to go down 4-3 up at Oldham and then lost their first home game, in the Carling Cup, 0-1 to Northampton Town.
Two draws followed on from that, 1-1 at home to Southend and a gutsy 0-0 up at Sixfields, Northampton.Since then they have beaten Huddersfield and Hartlepool down at the New Den and also lost at Colchester.
However, it was last weekend's result that made the rest of League One take note of Millwall. The Lions travelled up to the Walkers Stadium and inflicted a fine 0-1 defeat on the previously unbeaten Leicester City.
A perennial thorn in Cheltenhams side over the years has been Gary Alexander and it was he who scored the only goal to give Millwall their victory at Leicester. The Lions took the lead when Tresor Kandol flicked on and Alexander lifted his shot over the advancing City keeper.
The home side had a strong shout for a penalty turned down when Millwall's Paul Robinson pulled Steve Howard's shirt inside the box.
Leicester's Paul Dickov saw a shot go wide before Kandol was sent off late on for a tackle on Michael Morrison.
Goals this season have come on three fronts for Millwall with Alexander bagging two so far. Tresor Kandol has also scored twice and former Crystal Palace trainee, Lewis Grabbon, leads the way with three to his name.
With Kandol suspended and veteran striker Neil Harris injured it is very likely that Alexander will partner Grabbon up front on Saturday afternoon.
Tickets for the weekends match in London are currently available from the Whaddon Road Ticket Office, up until 6pm today (Thursday). They will also be on sale at The New Den, on Saturday afternoon, with prices remaining the same as those charged pre-matchday.













