MILLWALL lost for the first time in pre-season as Zian Flemming’s former club Fortuna Sittard came from a goal from behind to win at The Den.
A brilliant first half which saw goals from Tom Bradshaw and Alen Halilovic was followed by a second 45 defined by two penalties, both initially missed.
Kevin Nisbet’s effort early in the second half was saved well by Fortuna keeper Ivor Pandur, before George Long also saved a spot-kick from Tijjani Noslin.
But the Fortuna forward latched onto the rebound, scoring what would prove to be the winning goal.
It is a disappointing way to end pre-season for the Lions, who enjoyed an evenly-matched contest with the Dutch side for much of the afternoon.
Much of the talk this pre-season has centred around the goal-scoring potential of Kevin Nisbet after his five goals in three friendlies before today’s match.
But it was last season’s top-scorer Bradshaw who initially grabbed the first half limelight as he netted after 23 minutes.
Danny McNamara, on his return to the side from injury, picked up the ball on the right-hand side of the area and sent a low cross into the box.
Standing unmarked was Bradshaw, who calmly finished into the left bottom corner.
The moment was the highlight from a fairly impressive 30 minutes of football from both teams with Fortuna Sittard in particularly knocking the ball around with confidence and refusing to rush their football.
But the Dutch outfit’s equaliser then almost came from a simple corner after 34 minutes.
An inswinging corner met the head of imposing defender Rodrigo Guth, who saw his effort cleared off the line acrobatically by Nisbet.
Minutes later it was Millwall who almost found the way through from a corner.
Joe Bryan’s ball into the box dropped first for Jake Cooper, then Shaun Hutchinson and then Nisbet, but they all had efforts blocked at close range in a crazy six-yard box scramble.
Fortuna shuffled the ball away but were still disorganised by the time Millwall won it back. Bradshaw was slid into the box but had his effort blocked by Pandur.
After the flurry of missed chances at either end, former Barcelona and Birmingham City midfielder Halilovic picked the ball up in the Millwall box and showed the composure that had been missing.
His wonderful curling effort into the right hand corner levelled the score right before half-time.
The 15-minute interval would do little to stop the flow of chances.
Watmore managed to get in within minutes of the restart and was through on goal before being clipped by Remy Vita in the box.
The referee pointed to the spot but Nisbet, who netted spot-kicks against Gillingham and Sutton, had his effort saved as Pandur dived to his right and got a hand on it.
Almost 20 minutes later and Fortuna were awarded a penalty of their own.
Cooper was judged to have been too physical with striker Noslin in the box leading to referee James Bell to point to the spot.
Noslin’s initial effort was saved by George Long but the rebound fell for Noslin to slash home into the roof of the net and give Fortuna the lead.
It was not Long’s half with the keeper also misjudging a long ball into the box and allowing Noslin in.
But the striker failed to convert into the empty net after rushing his shot from an awkward angle.
Despite a raft of changes, with the likes of exciting young stars Romain Esse and Aidomo Emakhu introduced again, Millwall struggled to threaten after going behind.
Rowett switched to a 4-2-3-1 just after an hour but the formation change did not inspire many more chances either.
The best was when substitute George Saville was fouled in the box and Flemming, who surprisingly started on the bench, forced a save out of Pandur with a free-kick on the edge of the area.
Millwall: 3-4-1-2: Long; Hutchinson (Harding 84′), Cooper, Wallace; McNamara (Leonard 84′), B Mitchell, De Norre (Saville 62′), Bryan (Esse 84′); Watmore (Emakhu 84′); Bradshaw, Nisbet (Flemming 62′).
Fortuna Sittard: 4-3-3: Pandur; Pinto, Guth, Slovas, Vita; Ferati, Rosier, Halilovic; Noslin, Glandon, Cordoba
Attendance: 3,311
Referee: James Bell
