Why Millwall fans held a round of applause in the 8th minute vs Bristol City, club wants to put matter behind them

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Millwall’s good run of form came to an end with defeat against Bristol City last night, but it was the actions of the home fans at The Den that really caught our attention.

Under new manager Alex Neil, Millwall had become pretty hard to beat of late and had an outside shot of making the play-offs this season.

Bristol City, meanwhile, were in torrid form away from home, making Millwall firm favourites for this clash at The Den.

However, it was Bristol City, the Championship’s dark horses, who emerged victorious in a 2-0 win to move level on points with sixth-placed West Brom.

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Millwall fans were showing support for Liam Roberts after red card

However, before any of the goals went in, Millwall fans were applauding en masse, and you may be wondering what they were celebrating.

Well, turns out the Millwall supporters were showing their support for their goalkeeper, Liam Roberts, who was handed a red card over the weekend in the FA Cup defeat to Crystal Palace.

Roberts was sent off in the eighth minute of that game after a horror collision with Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta. Roberts was initially shown a yellow card for the challenge by Michael Oliver, before VAR intervened and ramped up the punishment.

While an accident, the incident was highly dangerous and Mateta was stretchered off the pitch before going to hospital. He is now in stable condition.

However, Millwall fans have been unhappy with the way their goalkeeper has been treated by other fans and the media since the Palace game, and wanted to give Roberts their backing during Tuesday night’s Championship game.

Millwall fans are known to have a penchant for winding up other sets of supporters and they generally tend to relish being targeted by rival fans, so this organised applause is also likely to have had a tongue-in-cheek irony to it, too.

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What has Millwall said about Liam Roberts incident?

Millwall Football Club issued its own, more direct statement on the matter regarding Roberts’ red card, after the play was hit with abuse online, largely from publications and pundits.

The club said (via Mail Sport): “We are disgusted by abuse directed towards goalkeeper Liam Roberts following Saturday’s unfortunate collision with Jean-Philippe Mateta.

“The reporting on the matter, as well as disgraceful suggestions made by certain news organisations and high-profile figures within the sport that Liam intended to harm Jean-Philippe, has contributed to the unwarranted character assassination of Liam and fuelled abhorrent online abuse towards him.

“No player at Millwall Football Club steps on to the pitch with the intent to harm another, and the club will continue to support Liam, who reached out to Jean-Philippe personally on Saturday evening with an apology which was accepted immediately.”

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
10	WatfordWatford	35	14	7	14	45	48	-3	49
11	NorwichNorwich	35	12	12	11	56	48	8	48
12	MillwallMillwall	35	11	12	12	34	36	-2	45
13	Sheffield WednesdaySheffield Wednesday	35	12	9	14	47	56	-9	45
14	QPRQPR	35	11	11	13	41	45	-4	44

Clearly, the club wants to put this matter to bed and move on. Roberts picked up a three-match suspension for the red card, but there is talk of his suspension being extended upon review by the FA.

Millwall will now need to turn to backup goalkeeper, Lukasz Jensen for the foreseeable future, but it seems Lions fans will welcome Roberts back with open arms whenever he returns.