Millwall set for major fitness boost ahead of Portsmouth at Fratton Park

Millwall are set to receive a major boost ahead Saturday’s visit to Championship rivals Pompey.

Lions boss Alex Neil has given an update on the availability of one of his key players after striker Mihailo Ivanović was initially rated as doubtful to feature at Fratton Park after he picked up a knock in a 1-1 draw with Preston North End that forced him to withdraw from the Serbia Under-21s squad for friendly fixtures with Czechia and the United States over the last 10 days.

However, Neil has now confirmed the highly-rated 20-year-old ‘should be fine’ to feature against Pompey and revealed he is expecting two other senior players to be in contention for Saturday’s game, with Alfie Doughty and Danny McNamara both ‘making good progress’ from respective ankle and knee injuries.

Speaking on Thursday, the Lions head coach told Southwark News: “We’ve got another day of training tomorrow, but we’ve got a few bodies that are starting to come back. Whether they’re ready to start or not, remains to be seen, but the likes of Alfie (Doughty) and maybe Danny Mac (Danny McNamara), guys like that, have been making good progress. So they should be involved in the squad.”

Ready

One player who will definitely feature at Fratton Park is Scotland Under-21 midfielder Daniel Kelly.

The 20-year-old was withdrawn from international duty over the last two weeks as a precautionary measure after he picked up hamstring and quad injuries - but Neil has confirmed Kelly will be in his squad for Saturday’s game as he is without experienced midfield trio Massimo Luongo, Billy Mitchell and Will Smallbone.

He said: “The thing is with Dan, Dan has only played 80 minutes in an under-21s game. He didn’t go with Scotland this week just to try and protect him in terms of his hamstring, and his quad was still sort of rumbling away a little bit. So we had to give him a little bit of rest just to overcome that.

“We know we’re light in those central areas with Massimo being out, Billy being out, and Will being out. We just need to make sure we take care of him. Dan will certainly play his part, as will most of the players in these upcoming games. Hopefully, he can show us that he’s ready.”

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