Millwall's Road Form Key to Promotion Success

Casper De Norre believes Millwall’s road form will again decide whether the club can turn play-off frustration into promotion joy.

Alex Neil’s side owned the Championship’s best away record last season, collecting 41 points from 23 matches. Only champions Coventry City matched their 11 wins on the road. That travelling edge kept the Lions in the promotion race until the final weeks – and De Norre insists it has to be their weapon again.

They’ve started like they mean it. A 2-0 victory at Bristol City on Saturday felt like a continuation rather than a reset.

“It’s very important if you want to achieve what we’re trying to achieve to go and get into those play-offs again,” the midfielder told BBC Radio London. “You have to be very good both at home and away, so it’s very good that we can start with an away win.

“We’re off to a perfect start. It’s always a difficult game away at Bristol. I think the game just played out perfectly for us.”

That word – “again” – hangs over Millwall’s season. They know the route. They just haven’t completed the journey.

The club have reached the second-tier play-offs four times and fallen at the semi-final stage on each occasion. Last season’s near miss in the automatic race, finishing a single point behind second-placed Ipswich Town, only sharpened the sense of a window that has to be seized.

So what counts as success this time, with two extra play-off spots opening up the pack?

“Try to be a bit better than we were last year,” the 29-year-old said. “Go into the play-offs and try and finish it in the play-offs rather than going out.”

It’s a simple target, but not a small one. Millwall have not played top-flight football since 1990. Three and a half decades of waiting, of almosts and what-ifs, sit behind this squad every time they pull on the shirt.

The message from De Norre is clear: keep owning the road, sharpen the edge in the play-offs, and that long exile from the top flight might finally be in sight.