Division Two: Millwall v Burnley - Pete Oliver's preview

MILLWALL know all about Steve Davis and Mitchell Thomas.

The Lions tried to sign Thomas from Luton Town in the summer before he linked up with the Clarets.

And as if Davis's reputation across the division wasn't enough, he left his calling card at the New Den in January when rifling home Burnley's late winner from a rasping free-kick.

Therefore you can be sure Millwall's joint boss Alan McLeary had the defensive duo in mind when he said: "They have got some talented players and if you look at their squad on paper you would say they are one of the more fancied teams.

"You can see that they are very well organised, they have got some big lads and we will have to keep an eye on them at set-pieces."

Davis and Thomas weren't at their best as Scunthorpe lowered Burnley's colours last Sunday.

But that was their first bad day at the office in an otherwise impressive start to the season.

The Clarets have been particularly resolute away from home, and Davis and Thomas will have key roles to play in nullifying the threat of Paul Shaw and Paul Moody - potentially one of the best striking partnerships in Division Two.

Milwall also have an experienced central defensive pairing in former Spurs man Stuart Nethercott and ex-Wimbledon player Scott Fitzgerald. However, Opta statistics comparing Davis and Nethercott suggest the Burnley man may just have the edge.

Certainly Davis adds more to the attack with one more goal and a couple more attempts to his credit so far.

Davis has also made 21 runs with the ball compared with Nethercott's seven, despite playing a couple of games less.

Nethercott has therefore made more passes (218 to 143), although Davis shades him on completion rate with 65 per cent.

And in the defending department Davis has won 31 per cent of his 16 tackles, compared with the Millwall man's 30 per cent of 27, made 19 blocks to Nethercott's 15, 106 clearances to 141 and 10 interceptions to Nethercott's five.

On the foul count, Davis has committed three times as many as Nethercott's six but the only yellow card has gone to the Lion.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.