They had waited 14 years for this. For the latest edition of what’s been christened the Dockers’ Derby, the meeting of two of football’s fiercest rivals, these two old firms, ones depicted in the films Green Street and Football Factories. Julian Dicks, the former West Ham defender, got hit with a brick once.
But for as ready as these supporters may have been, the police were even more so. The Met deployed more than 400 officers, four times the size of the usual football task force, some with dogs, others on horses, many armed with riot gear. They had facial recognition at their disposal and set up a dispersal zone spreading nearly five miles south of the river while the City of London Police put in their own north of the Thames.
As West Ham fans strolled down ‘Cowards’ Way’, the enclosed path taken by away fans from South Bermondsey station towards to the Den, it was not Millwall supporters who greeted them from below the bridge underneath as they passed but lines of riot vans and police officers with their German Shepherds. No one was getting through there.
And as much as you could feel the bubbling tension – and, boy, could you feel the tension – it still rarely felt primed to burst.
West Ham’s team bus received an expectedly hostile greeting as it pulled up to the Den, as home fans lined up to pass on their best wishes but, even then, nothing was pelted towards it. No drinks, let alone bricks.
One officer outside South Bermondsey station clocked a West Ham fan sipping from his canned M&S gin and tonic. How times have changed.
Millwall goalkeeper Filip Marschall appeared to allege that West Ham forward Taty Castellanos spat at him
Marschall made the accusation during a feisty Dockers Derby between Millwall and West Ham
West Ham deny their striker Taty Castellanos spat at the goalkeeper on Saturday
But this is The Den, of course, and a day like this was never going to go by without something threatening to unravel it all. As the home fans were funnelled out of the ground to the surrounding streets after this frenetic 2-2 draw which saw West Ham come from two goals down to snatch a point, a small group began to clash with police on horseback.
One man was seized by two police offers and flung to the ground.
While it was all happening, other fans angrily shouted at journalists, Daily Mail Sport included, to stop filming and to ‘put your f***ing phones away’, and accused them of being ‘grasses’. One photographer was then threatened after telling one furious supporter that he was only doing his job.
The uprising, though, was extinguished as quickly as it had ignited. The vast number of police just had it under control.
By 4pm, the Met confirmed they had made just six arrests and those for incidents including tailgating, assaulting a police officer and trying to get into the Den while intoxicated. They nicked nearly twice as many Millwall fans outside a Hammers pub in Stratford the night before.
The biggest flashpoint, in the end, happened on the pitch when West Ham striker Taty Castellanos was accused of spitting at Filip Marschall as the Millwall goalkeeper refused to release the ball while the hosts were 2-0 up just after the hour.
‘I believe so,’ said Lions boss Alex Neil. ‘Fil was saying to the referee throughout the game when that happened. Fil would say that without cause. I’m sure the referees and the authorities will look at it and if it warrants that it needs dealt with, I’m sure they will.’
Daily Mail Sport are not welcome at the Den, with the publication still banned from attending matches, so we found our vantage point on one of the paths that run alongside the train track next to the stadium where lads stood on Lime Bikes to peer over a metal fence and between the gap in the corner between two stands.
You could hear the febrile roars and see the flying limbs as Caleb Taylor gave Millwall the lead, finally bundling the ball into the net despite the heroic attempts of West Ham goalkeeper, which got louder still when Camiel Neghli bundled in from a long throw to make it two before the break.
If anyone was here for a fight, it didn’t appear to be West Ham. And yet, with about a quarter of an hour to go, substitute Mo Kante fired a low shot into the corner to pull one back before Konstantinos Mavropanos headed in the equaliser five minutes later.
Kyrell Lisbie raced clear in the closing minutes for Millwall only for Kante to haul him down before he could slot home the winner to earn himself a red card and a place in Hammers fans’ hearts.
And so, after waiting for so long, none of them had the bragging rights. The big winners, by a distance, were the Met.
