Southend United striker Neil Harris relishing friendly against former Millwall side (From Echo)

Southend United striker Neil Harris relishing friendly against former Millwall side

5:06pm Tuesday 7th August 2012 in Sport By Chris Phillips

NEIL Harris feels facing his former Millwall side will be the perfect pre-season preparation for Southend United tonight.

Blues face the Lions at Roots Hall just a week before kicking-off their campaign.

And Harris, who is the Londoners’ record goalscorer, believes the clash will be of huge benefit to Paul Sturrock’s side.

“It will be special for me to play against Millwall but I think it will be a good game for us all to play at this stage,” said the 35-year-old striker.

“It’s coming up to the serious stuff now and Millwall are a big, strong physical side, so it will be just the test we need.

“Without being disrespectful to Ipswich, who we played last week, I think this is another step up and everyone will want to impress and show they should be in the team for the first game of the season.”

The clash will enable Harris to say a proper goodbye to the Millwall fans who he formed a close relationship with during his time at the New Den.

In two separate spells with the Lions, Harris scored a combined total of 138 goals in 432 games.

And he holds happy memories of his time in South London.

“I remain proud of having played for Millwall and the teams and players I was involved with,” said Harris.

“We got to cup finals, won promotion, got to the play-offs and came close to reaching the Premier League, so it was a great time.

“I also had a great relationship with the fans and this will be my chance to say goodbye to the ones who are coming up to the game.

“I left at the end of a season so I’ve never had a chance to do that before and that’s another reason why I’m looking forward to tonight.”