Max Crocombe (Millwall | England)

Millwall up to 3rd with an important 3-1 win away at Hull (5th). Crocs on the pine

Middlesbrough (2nd) a game in hand, but are only 1 point now ahead of Millwall.

Crocs on the pine as Millwall (4th) travel to Ipswich (3rd). Big game

https://us.soccerway.com/game/ipswich-thqhB2MB/millwall-6uz2cJBL/summary/lineups/?mid=tKweRuxH

 1-1 draw. Ipswich stay 3rd (69 pts & game in hand) & Millwall 4th (69 pts).
Another big game for Millwall after the FIFA break, travelling to Middlesbrough (2nd, 71 pts) 

Millwall (4th, 69 pts) travel to Middlesbrough (2nd, 71 pts) in a huge game. Remembering 2nd gets automatically promoted. Coventry (1st, 80 pts) look a lock in to go up to the EPL.

Massively important 2-1 win for Millwall in the early game.
Crocs on the pine. Socceroo Rile McGree a full match for Boro (3rd, 71 pts).

Millwall (72 pts, GD +10) go 2nd for now. But Ipswich (4th, 69 pts, GD +28) with 2 games in hand, will likely overtake Millwall in the next week.

Worth noting that their entire history Millwall have only spent two seasons in the English top flight. 1988-89 and 1989-90.

So promotion if it happens will be a big deal.

Millwall (2nd) host Norwich

Crocs on the pine. 
Mo Toure who scored a few for the Socceroos against NZ last September, on the pine for the Canaries.

Bad day out for Millwall who lose 1-2 at home.
Toure off the pine at HT, and assisted both Norwich goals.

Millwall slip to 4th on GD. Them Middlesbrough (3rd) and Ipswich (2nd) all on 72 pts.
But Tractor Boys with 2 games in hand in pole position for that 2nd automatic promotion spot behind Coventry (1st, 84 pts)

Millwall travel to West Brom. Almost must win to stay in the race for 2nd.

https://us.soccerway.com/game/millwall-6uz2cJBL/west-brom-CCBWpzjj/?mid=xKzkNlc4

0-0 draw. Crocs on the pine.

Millwall (73 pts) go 2nd, but Ipswich (72 pts) have 3 games in hand & Boro (also 72 pts) 1 game in hand.

London derby. Millwall (3rd) host QPR (11th)

Ipswich (5 games left) with a game in hand on Millwall (4 games left)

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360966638/coventry-returns-premier-league-after-hardfought-draw

The result put Coventry 11 points clear of second-placed Ipswich Town and 13 ahead of third-placed Millwall.

Millwall lead QPR 1-0 after 3 mins.
Crocs on the pine.

Millwall won 2-0, to go up to 2nd.
Though Ipswich (3rd) who now have 2 games in hand host Middlesbrough (5th) tonight.

Millwall (3rd) travel to Stoke (17th).

https://us.soccerway.com/game/millwall-6uz2cJBL/stoke-city-hSUajdSS/?mid=IBXDrdPs

Ipswich (2nd) travel to Charlton.

Crocs on the pine as Millwall win 3-1.
They go 3 pts clear of Ipswich (2 games in hand) who play at Charlton tonight.

Millwall (3rd) travel to relegated Leicester (23rd).

Ipswich (2nd, with game in hand) won a few days ago at Charlton so now edge Millwall on GD.

1-1 draw. Took a 90th min goal to save Millwall from losing.
Socceroo Harry Souttar with Leicester's goal.

Crocs on the pine.

A 2-2 draw between Southampton (5th, 77 pts) and Ipswich (2nd, 81 pts).
If the Saints had won, they would still have been a chance of automatic promotion going into the last round. Ipswich an 87th min equaliser.

So down to the final round this weekend it's a 3 way fight for 2nd spot, and the other automatic promotion spot behind Coventry.

Ipswich host QPR (14th, nothing to play for)
Millwall (3rd, 80 pts) host Oxford (relegated, nothing to play for)
Middlesbrough (4th, 79 pts) travel to Wrexham (6th on GD, 70 pts). Both Hull (70 pts) or Derby (69 pts) could overtake Wrexham for the last playoff spot.

All down to the last round, re 2nd spot and automatic promotion. Ipswich favoured.
Millwall (3rd) host Oxford.

Crocs on the pine as Millwall win 2-0.
Unfortunately for them Ipswich win 3-0 to lock in 2nd spot.

Millwall (3rd) to play Hull (6th) in the playoffs.

Playoff semis.

Millwall will face Hull, and Southampton will meet Middlesbrough.

Millwall travel to Hull, 1st leg promotion semis

0-0 draw. Advantage Millwall for leg 2 at The Den

Crocs on the pine.

Millwall host Hull City semi final 2nd leg. 0-0 in the first leg.

https://us.soccerway.com/game/hull-city-S66R0t75/millwall-6uz2cJBL/?mid=W89yLHrm

Millwall have not played in the Premier League since it was founded in 1992 -- their only seasons in English football's top tier came in 1988/89 and 1989/90 when it was the First Division. 

The south London club, who finished just one point behind Ipswich, are in the second-tier play-offs for the first time since 2002.

Heart break Millwall fans.
A 0-2 loss and their season is over

Crocs on the pine.

Patterson with a howler for the second which killed the game off. Not that Max would've wanted that at all, but I can't help but feel a degree of schadenfreude.

Off contract now.

You would however think with Patterson heading back to Sunderland and Millwall remaining in the championship, that he must be a good bet for an offer from Millwall.

 If they had gone up it would have been unlikely.

Extended Highlights. About 7.40 mins in is the 2nd goal.

Niche Cache

Let’s stick with the information gifted to us by those wonderful Retained/Released lists that they do in England because there’s been a twist in Max Crocombe’s tale with his name completely absent from those who will “leave the club following the expiration of their contracts” and those who “remain in discussions over new contracts” which suggests that his case falls under the “all other First-Team squad members remain under contract for the 2026/27 season” banner. Millwall never stated the length of his contract when he signed but other outlets had suggested a one-year deal. Seems very possible that he would have signed something like a 1+1 with an automatic trigger for appearances (he played 23 Championship games for them, exactly half of the campaign). That would explain the discrepancy... but whatever the situation is, he remains a Millwall player.

That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be there next season, transfers do happen, although Alex Patterson’s loan has ended and if they had reservations about Crocombe at this level then they’re certainly not going to lean upon a 21yo George Evans (most recently on loan with Hartlepool in the fifth tier) while Lucas Jensen only played three reserves games all last season due to injuries. Best case scenario here would be that manager Alex Neil is more trusting of Crocombe having now been through a playoff campaign (albeit on the bench) and he therefore gives Crocs and Jensen the chance to scrap it out for the number one status. Worst case scenario is that they bring in another loanee or even a permanent keeper ahead of both of them to leave Crocs stranded as a backup. Patterson might be available again although Sunderland would probably rather offload him permanently and it’s doubtful that Millwall could afford that fee. Gotta see how things unfold... but it does mean that Crocombe is not a free agent heading into the World Cup.

Crocombe will have suitors, he was having a great season and was unfairly dropped IMO.

Plenty of teams in the Championship would have seen his quality and no doubt his agent will be making contact with clubs. 

Niche Cache

Max Crocombe’s situation is a little more fluid. The first thing to know is that Anthony Patterson, the goalie they brought in on loan to play ahead of him in the second half of the season, has returned to Sunderland where he has two more years under contract but is very likely to be sold. Patterson is training with the Black Cats for now however he wasn’t involved in their first friendly and isn’t going to be taken on tour to the USA. Several Championship clubs are interested in him, dunno if Millwall are one of those, but for now the word is that nobody has met the asking price. Doesn’t look like he’ll be back at Millwall. 

But Lukas Jensen was the number one the season before last and he’s finally fit again after a difficult 18 months filled with setbacks trying to recover from an achilles injury. George Evans remains, a 21yo academy graduate. They’ve also extended the contract of veteran depth option Joel Coleman who joined at the same time as Crocombe. Probably did that to allow Evans to leave on another loan later in the picture.

That means four goalkeepers in contention barring any transfer work. Realistically it’ll be between Lukas Jensen and Max Crocombe for the starting duties and the early phase of preseason has seen Jensen given the chance to put his case forward with Max Crocombe yet to report back after the World Cup. The coach is promising that Crocs will get his opportunity too.

Alex Neill: “[Lukas Jensen] missed all of last season, and he missed the end of the season before. He was coming back just towards the end. But the difficulty you’ve got is trying to get up to speed when you’ve only got maybe six weeks or whatever of the season to go. This pre-season for him in particular is going to be very important to get himself prepared and ready for the season. We’ve got Max Crocombe to come back. We’ve got George [Evans]. We’ve got Joel Coleman. So at the moment we’ve got four goalkeepers. Lukas is right in the midst of his pre-season now, and what we’re hoping is that he goes from strength to strength but, equally, we’ve got Max coming back from the World Cup once we get back from Spain and we want to give Max every opportunity as well. Just like every position, everybody’s got an opportunity to stake their claim and it’s really up to them then.”

League Cup. Millwall travel to QPR

Jensen fit and in goal for Millwall. Crocs on the pine.

Going to be hard for Crocombe to get back into the goal, as Jensen saved all 4 penalties in the penalty shootout to give them a win 

Still not sure why a bench player with zero recent game time was played ahead of Alex Paulson in the WC. 

Because Paulsen had a very poor finish to his club season in Poland, and seemed low on confidence. That period from the March international window (nice 4-1 win over Chile) to the end of Gdansk's season (got relegated) was just custard for AP. 

Some metric had him as the worst keeper in the Polish league.

Cost him yes the starter's role at the WC.

And Max was only recently on the bench having played 23 Championship games last season, easily our highest level for a keeper. 

Niche Cache

Max Crocombe was on the bench for Millwall as Lukas Jensen got the start for a 1-1 draw away to QPR. Not being the cup keeper might turn out to be a good thing as it’s often the back-up who gets those matches... although Jensen, who’d had a pretty quiet game otherwise, made quite a statement in the penalty shootout. He went went absolutely nuts and saved all four attempts he faced to take Millwall into the next round. Coach Alex Neill said before the game that he hadn’t yet decided who his number one will be. Gotta see how this goes but Jensen’s case just got a lot stronger.

Alex Neill: “Nobody doubts how good Lukas is at shot-stopping. When you come back [from injury] you’ve still got that quality, it’s just decision-making and game-time and things like that for him. It’s just getting exposure, that’s why I picked him. It wasn’t really a case of Lukas over Max, it was a really difficult decision to make. The two of them are very different in terms of the strengths and qualities that they have but what I think with Lukas is that he’s exceptional at stopping shots. Max is probably better with the ball at his feet, he can pick things out and different things. It’s dependent on the game, it’s dependent on how we feel the game is going to go. I needed to see Lukas. He’s not played a competitive match for fifteen months and these games are very different from pre-season matches. It only made sense to put him in.”