Before Saturday's FA Cup tie against Wycombe Wanderers, Millwall found themselves battling on three fronts in league and cup competitions.

By 4.45pm, that had been reduced to two.

Michael Harriman's last-gasp winner sent the Lions crashing out at The Den, leaving a Millwall-shaped hole in the third round draw for the first time since the 2000/01 season.

I know I've previously written about the magic of the cup, but in some ways I'm glad we're no longer in it.

With the game heading for a replay, it would have meant yet another midweek match in an already congested fixture list.

If you include Saturday, we've now played five games in fifteen days. And with suspensions and injuries beginning to build-up, having one less competition to worry about may do us a favour in the long run.

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Of course, many of us watched Monday night's draw with baited breath, resigned to the fact that we would miss out on facing one of the Premier League's big boys.

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As it was, the reward for beating Wycombe would have seen us welcome top-flight strugglers Aston Villa. Although on the face of it Villa are a club with great history and prestige, their recent fall from grace could well see us facing each other in league action sooner rather than later.

And anyway, it's only been three seasons since we last met in the FA Cup, when John Marquis headed a late winner to dump the Midlanders out at the Den. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

For me, Tuesday night was a bigger occasion.

I've never regarded the Johnstone's Paint Trophy as a big deal. In fact, you could probably rank it somewhere between the Water Polo World Cup and Badminton Horse Trials in a list of major sporting events.

Nevertheless, this presented us with a genuine chance of reaching Wembley yet again.

Get through against Southend, and either Oxford United or Yeovil Town would await in a two-legged area final.

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Having been under the cosh for most of the first half, Steve Morison put the Lions ahead against the run of play to settle the nerves.

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Pessimistic Ed was certain the home side would get back into it, but thankfully Shaun Williams doubled the lead early in the second period, putting the game beyond the Shrimpers and putting me firmly in my place.

After not paying much attention to the JPT at the start of the season, suddenly we find ourselves in the Southern Area Final against Oxford.

I won't be getting ahead of myself just yet - it's only been a few days since we last lost against League Two opposition. But I must admit, I have started pre-planning which pubs to visit en route to Wembley Park tube station.

The double header doesn't kick off until mid-January so we can now re-focus our efforts on the league campaign. There's a big game coming up this weekend at Oldham where a win could see us jump into the play-offs.

For now though, I'll be fretting over whether we get allocated the Green Man on April 3.

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