Millwall RFC suffer agonising derby defeat in Millwall Park homecoming

Published: 5:52 PM September 23, 2009 Updated: 8:14 AM October 14, 2020

Millwall RFC suffered a heartbreaking defeat in their first ever match at Millwall Park on Saturday after losing by a single point to East London

Millwall RFC suffered a heartbreaking defeat in their first ever match at Millwall Park on Saturday after losing by a single point to East London.

Following a long campaign to be allowed to play adult matches at their home, the Isle-of-Dogs team christened the pitch with a fraught derby match against their rivals from West Ham.

Fly-half Dom Sutherland gave Millwall an early lead with a penalty, but as the match progressed East London's dominance in the lineout and scrums gave them the lion's share of possession and an overlap allowed East London to take the lead with a converted try.

In the second half, the game remained tight with both sides failing to add to the score until a crisp Millwall back-line move between centre James Reilly and full-back Karl Mitchell allowed winger Ben Smith to finish clinically in the left corner.

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Sutherland missed the conversion and shortly afterwards East London were back in front after touching down under the posts for a 14-8 lead.

Millwall scrum-half Brent McMillan made an incisive break and finished off his own move by diving over in the right corner to bring the home side within two points, but Sutherland was unable to convert and Reilly missed a late penalty as East London hung on.