Calum Butcher is determined to fight for his first-team place in Millwall’s midfield this season.

The former Tottenham Hotspur academy graduate wants to feature in the starting 11 as much as possible following the arrival of George Saville.

Butcher, 26, started just nine league games for the Lions last season after signing from Burton Albion - and was behind Shaun Williams and Ben Thompson in the pecking order.

However, he remains focused on establishing himself as a regular fixture in manager Neil Harris’ side.

Butcher told News Shopper: “Of course, last year was obviously frustrating for me.

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“I wanted to play a lot more than I did after the back of getting promoted with Burton and coming into pre-season fit, ready to go.

“I’ve just got to put my head down and hopefully opportunities come this season.

“I don’t know what the gaffer is thinking but I just want to play as much as I can.”

Asked whether he had any personal ambitions for the upcoming season, he said: “Play as many games as I can and try to cement a place with opportunities when they come.”

Butcher played the full 90 minutes in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Barnet.

With efforts from himself, Lee Gregory and Steve Morison to level the score, they simply could not find the net.

But he took a more neutral approach in his post-match assessment.

He added: “Of course, there are still things that we need to improve on but it’s pre-season.

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“It’s all about getting minutes, there are no injuries and you’ve got to take the positives when you can.

“We’ve just got to be more clinical when we get [chances], you know.

“Maybe you can be critical that our build-up play needs to be better but I thought, overall, it was all us in the second half and that was it.

“You lose games. I’ve had pre-seasons and been in teams where you lose all pre-season and then you go five on the bounce at the start of the season.

“You can’t really judge it [the defeat] because it is about fitness, it is about not getting injured.”