Alex Neil revealed Romain Esse’s absence from Millwall’s 3-0 FA Cup third-round victory over Dagenham was due to his move to Premier League Crystal Palace “progressing”.
Esse was not involved in the squad as Neil did not want to put the winger’s switch to the English top flight in jeopardy.
This came on a night where goals from Mihailo Ivanovic, Casper De Norre and debutant Ra’ess Bangura-Williams secured victory for the Lions to set up a fourth-round tie with Sky Bet Championship rivals and current leaders Leeds on February 8.
“There wasn’t an issue,” Neil said when asked if an injury ruled Esse out at The Den.
“Crystal Palace have shown a lot of interest in Romain, I didn’t make him available for the game and I think that the situation is progressing and what I wouldn’t do is put that at risk at this stage.
“If that changes then Romain will be back in the squad.”
Millwall took the lead after 30 minutes as Ivanovic was pulled down by Jake Hessenthaler before he superbly managed to get his head onto a rebound, with a quick-thinking move inches from the ground, as he nodded the ball over the line from a couple of yards out.
A well-worked move – after 70 minutes – doubled the hosts’ score as Joe Bryan’s chipped cross towards the far post was slotted home by De Norre.
Neil handed academy graduate Bangura-Williams his professional debut off the bench and the 20-year-old netted with a neat left-footed finish in the 85th minute.
Sheldon Kendall, 17, also made his debut for the hosts and 18-year-old Alfie Massey appeared for the second time as Neil put trust in his youngsters.
“I wanted one of the younger boys to come on and for one of them to get a goal. I’m delighted, it doesn’t get much better than that,” he added.
“What I do think is, if you give young players the opportunity, then they can surprise you.
“Young Ra’ess showed incredible maturity in that position to glide past the centre-back and show supreme confidence to slide it past the keeper – he’s a talented lad.
“Sheldon also came on up top and he’s 17 years of age. Having that exposure and showing that at Millwall there’s that pathway for you is vitally important and hopefully that’s the first step for some of these boys to get more minutes.”
Dagenham interim manager Lewis Young put his side’s poor performance down to fear.
“Today I’m filled with a bit of disappointment,” he told Daggers TV.
“In the first half we didn’t show our true selves. I think we were overcome with fear and emotion. It’s the biggest game some of these players have ever played in.”
