FEMI Azeez said scoring his first goal for the Lions at The Den was “special”, after his 93rd minute equaliser snatched a late point for Millwall during their 1-1 draw with Sunderland on Saturday.
Azeez replaced Duncan Watmore in the 74th minute with the Lions chasing an equaliser after Aaron Connolly’s early goal put the Black Cats ahead in the first half.
Millwall put Sunderland under tremendous pressure before eventually breaking through in injury time after a lightning-quick counter-attack undid the Black Cats’ defence. It was spearheaded by winger Aidomo Emakhu, who had only come on the pitch three minutes earlier.
Sunderland striker Milan Aleksic was through on goal, and opted to try double his side’s lead rather than take it to the corner, but his shot was deflected wide by Lukas Jensen. Joe Bryan scampered after the loose ball, and passed it to Emakhu on the left wing, who flicked it past his man to fellow substitute Macaulay Langstaff. Langstaff played a lovely ball through to striker Mihailo Ivanovic, who diverted it into the path of the on-rushing Emakhu.
Emakhu drove at the box, beat his defender for pace and drove the ball across the box for Azeez to tap in at the back post. It was a fantastic move, and ended in Azeez’s first goal for the club since joining the Lions over the summer from Reading.
Azeez told Millwall TV after the game he was delighted to get off the mark.
“It felt great, my first goal for the club, and special it was here at The Den as well,” Azeez said.
“It was great work from Aidomo down the left. I’ve done a lot of work with the coaches who have told me to get to the back post area. I said: ‘I’m getting in there today’ and it worked out. It was pleasing.”
The Lions were clearly the better side in the second half, recording ten shots to Sunderland’s four, and were justly rewarded with a goal.
“In the second half, we just piled on the intensity. We thought let’s just go for the attack and eventually it worked for us. We grew into the game. I’m glad to get the point but obviously we wanted the three.”
Millwall’s second half performance was like day and night compared to their first half display. They had their backs to the wall for the first 40 minutes, before the game was paused due to two separate medical emergencies in the crowd, which resulted in the players leaving the pitch for around 30 minutes.
“First of all, I want to wish a speedy recovery to the two people that were taken ill,” said Azeez. “Hopefully they are doing well.
“In the dressing room, we just regrouped, really, going over what we could do better, what went wrong and how we can improve it for the second half. It was like a mini half-time break, just regrouping for the final five minutes of the first half and then preparing for the second.”
Azeez attributed the Lions’ second half resurgence to his squad’s character and resilience.
“We are never going to say we aren’t going to score at The Den. We have belief, we know what to do and how to score. It’s more just the resilience to keep going and going and it worked out in the end.”
