Fratt Party: Lions boss hails deadly duo after they combine again at Portsmouth for second successive 1-0 win on the road

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By Will Scott at Fratton Park

ALEX Neil praised Ra’ees Bangura-Williams and Mihailo Ivanovic after the duo combined for the decisive goal in Millwall’s 1-0 Championship win against Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Tuesday night. 

Bangura-Williams, 20, exchanged passes with Casper De Norre in the 40th minute before threading a perfectly-weighted ball behind Pompey’s defence for Ivanovic to run on to. The Serbian striker took a touch and then chipped goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid from just inside the box. 

“We spoke about how they were going to swing off the backline and we were going to end up one-v-one as a striker and the space was going to be in behind, so make sure you get the timing right,” Neil said.

“Ra’ees’ pass was unreal. It splits the defence. Mihailo goes straight through and he had a lot of time to think about it, because he gets in behind quite early.

“Sometimes as a striker you want one or two steps and then finish. Whereas he has probably got to travel fifteen yards with the ball. Your mind can play tricks on you at that point. To keep his composure and just lift it over the keeper’s shoulder, what it does show is the confidence he has currently got – how he is playing and contributing to the team.”

It was a redeeming moment for Bangura-Williams, who missed an open goal in the fourth minute. He now has three assists in three league starts since breaking into the first team a few weeks ago. 

“He is supremely confident,” Neil said. “I spoke to him after the last game – he was disappointed with his first half. I shouted at him: ‘It’s gone, let it go!’ It doesn’t affect him, he knows what he is doing.

“He understands and knows how much I trust him, hence the reason why he is playing. I have played him as a ten, I’ve played him off the right and off the left. He has literally played most positions behind the striker. He is fine. He won’t even think about it, that kid.”

The pair also combined for Millwall’s goal in their 1-0 win against Luton Town last Saturday and are quickly becoming an effective partnership. 

“If you think of players, combinations are important,” Neil said. “If you look back over the days, you’ve got a big man/wee man combination of strikers, or you’ve got a running nine and you’ve got a technical ten.

“Ra’ees wants to land on it, he wants to thread balls through, but if he’s not getting anybody running, they’re not going to score. So Ivanovic wants to work away from the ball, Ra’ees wants to find that pass.

“All we’ve got to do is come up with enough patterns that puts him in that position enough times to make it effective. The last two games, it’s worked out.”

Meanwhile, Neil revealed on-loan Liverpool left-sided player Calum Scanlon could miss the rest of the season through injury. 

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