"Crazy" - Millwall's Mihailo Ivanovic reveals mystic Neil Harris prediction | OneFootball

The young Serb got off the mark for the Lions against Derby County.

Mihailo Ivanovic has revealed that Millwall manager Neil Harris told him before he came on and got his first goal for the club, against Derby County, that he was going to find the back of the net that day.

A draw against the Rams can be considered to be points dropped for the Lions. Not in terms of league position - Derby are eight spots higher and three more points than Millwall after 10 games of the new Championship season - but because of how the contest played out.

Millwall had a number of good chances to open the scoring, two of which fell to summer signing Macaulay Langstaff. The man who had scored 70 league goals over the previous two campaigns before confirming his move to The Den has struggled a bit since making the jump to the second tier.

The £700,000 man has scored only once this season, but has an xG of 1.8, according to FotMob. That trend of missing chances he should have taken continued into Saturday. He was denied once by the post and once by the boot of County goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom.

It was his replacement, Ivanovic, who ended up getting his side, and himself, off the mark.

Millwall were 1-0 down thanks to a scrappy goal from Jerry Yates once the chance fell to the 19-year-old Serbian forward, who joined the club for £2.5m in the summer - a record fee for the Lions.

A lucky break of the ball from a clearance onto Romain Esse put Ivanovic clean through on goal. He showed tremendous composure to round the Derby keeper before slotting the ball into the back of the net, levelling the score at 1-1.

Neil Harris' Mihailo Ivanovic prediction

The teenager wasn't given an easy task when he was brought on. There were around 20 minutes left in the game for him to have an impact; luckily for them, he did.

Ivanovic has revealed that along with the usual instructions that substitutes get when they're coming on, the boss also made a prediction that ended up coming true.

"It was a crazy experience. I get goosebumps now (talking about it). I hope there is going to be a lot more.

"Everything about this place is amazing. I like it so much. It was a difficult game. We are not happy with the point – we needed to win, we had so many chances. We are going to improve that. We are focused 100 percent on Plymouth (on Wednesday night)."

Millwall supporters may start to see more of Mihailo Ivanovic

The old strikers lore is that it can just take one goal to really get you firing, no matter how it happens. In Ivanovic's case, it was a very well taken one which should give him an extra boost.

In Langstaff and the Serbian, Harris has a nice blend of ying and yang.

The ex-Notts County forward is a fox in the box type of striker; someone that is going to be in the right positions in the box to get good chances. Ivanovic, on the other hand, has a lot more physical presence, not just with his height but with his pace too, as he showed with his inaugural Millwall goal.

He's yet to make his full league debut for the club, but he's proven that he can take a chance when it's presented to him, which could lead to more and more game time for Ivanovic in the coming weeks.