Tuesday afternoon saw Millwall club captain Tony Craig play his first minutes of football for five months when appearing in an Under-21 match at The Den. Craig played the first 45 minutes of the 1-0 victory over Bristol City.
The 30-year-old, who also donned the captains armband for the clash, hasn’t played for the first-team since suffering a serious injury in the draw against Bradford City in October 2015. He has only recently returned to full contact training.
Alfie Pavey scored the only goal of the Professional Development League Two encounter, but it was the return of their inspirational skipper which will certainly take all of the headlines.
Craig is now looking to build up minutes in the Under-21 side in order to prove his fitness to be available for selection in Neil Harris’ first-team squad. He has only recently returned to training and many featured that his season could have been over following the injury last year, but he has made big strides forward.
It was agreed with the management team that Craig would only play 45 minutes in this game and he has come through that with no problems surrounding his knee problem. He partnered Sid Nelson at centre back and made a significant step forward in his rehabilitation progress.
The player himself now hopes to be involved in a potential promotion campaign which could culminate in a Play-Off Final appearance at Wembley Stadium in May. Craig began his career with Millwall and has spent all of his professional career with the club besides a brief spells with Crystal Palace and Brentford, and loan moves away at Wycombe Wanderers and Leyton Orient.
