What fuelled Millwall&#8217;s growing self-belief, the key turning point &#8211; and a look ahead to a &#8216;brutal&#8217; run-

MILLWALL looked broken in St Andrews. They had been thoroughly trounced by a Birmingham City side that had been better in every department on a rainy early-November evening, and walked off the pitch with their tails between their legs.

In the post-match press conference, Alex Neil questioned his side's robustness when handling setbacks. At that stage of the season, the Lions rarely looked like mounting a comeback.

The result came three days after Przemyslaw Placheta's added-time strike had denied them all three points at Kassam Stadium. To make matters worse, star man Femi Azeez limped off in the first half with a calf injury.

It was certainly the low point of the Lions' season.

Three months on, Millwall are going from strength to strength, and the doubts about their mentality have largely disappeared.

They have gutted out tough result after tough result, the most recent of which was a 2-0 win away at the surging Wrexham . The Lions were not at their best but had enough about them to secure all three points.

Most impressive have been the late goals. At the start of the season, the Lions rarely looked like coming back into games after going behind , but since the November international break, they have staged several late comebacks.

The Lions have scored three 80+ minute winners at The Den in the past few months - against Bristol City, Swansea City and Southampton - adding six points to their tally, the difference between fifth and seventh.

Even without the late winners, Millwall have racked up several good results recently - the aforementioned win at Racecourse Ground, a comfortable 2-0 win away at then top-six Watford and a 4-0 annihilation of rivals Charlton Athletic.

The only real blot on the copybook since Christmas was the narrow 2-1 loss away at then league-leaders Coventry City, where Millwall were unlucky not to come away with a point after spurning several chances in the second half.

The Lions' surge in the past month and a half has coincided with the return of several key squad members: Casper De Norre, Billy Mitchell, Luke Cundle, Derek Mazou-Sacko, and Josh Coburn all came back in late December or early January. Alfie Doughty, meanwhile, is enjoying his most consistent run of games after injuries blighted the first three months of his season.

Reflecting on his side's growth over the past three months, Neil explained why there are now no questions over their robustness.

"I think there are a couple of things," Neil told NewsAtDen . "There's more consistency in terms of personnel. When you get your best players available, it always makes the job easier.

"But equally, I think the belief and the confidence in what we're doing, I think then stems from the fact that you do score a late winner. You do find a way to win tight games. When you're not at your best, you do manage to get points and still rack up good numbers and games. From that perspective, that just leads into the momentum and the belief.

"We've spoken about momentum regularly at the Championship level. It's so important because you play so many games in quick succession. So if you go Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, you can pick yourself up nine points, or you can pick yourself up zero points. So, really quite quickly, the league table can shift and change quite significantly. From our perspective, we feel we're in a good moment.

"But equally, that can shift. You know, we're looking at Coventry at the moment in terms of their run. It can shift to one or the other quite quickly. We just need to try and maintain what we're doing just now and see how we go."

Robustness has translated into increased confidence and incision in the final third. Earlier in the season, it felt like the Femi Azeez show. While the winger has maintained his extraordinary form, the attack looks more well-rounded.

The Lions' surge into play-off contention in the run-in last season was powered by goals from Josh Coburn and Mihailo Ivanovic, and the duo have scored in five out of Millwall's last six games.

"What coincides with that is getting a good, settled, solid midfield," Neil said. "I think getting Femi fit and available and firing down that side. I think Tristan [Crama] being consistent. I think the partnership of the two centre-backs being consistent. I think Alfie's quality with his left foot, again, being consistent, getting more minutes into him.

"There are a lot of consistencies about the team at the moment. We had this discussion numerous times in the first, what, fifteen to twenty games. When we got everybody back, there would be a more consistent level of performance from us, and from my perspective, that's how it looks."

Clearly, it's clicking for Millwall at the moment, and the self-belief within the squad is obvious. Is there a moment that stands out to Neil as when that belief began to build?

"The game that always stands out in my mind is Southampton at home," Neil said. "Hence probably the reason for my reaction during it. I just thought it was such a momentous moment for the fans, for the team. I felt it was a little bit of a confidence and belief shifter.

"Since then, we've had some really good games that we've put in really strong performances in, like Watford away.

"They're the ones, naturally, as fans, the pessimists among them will be looking, thinking, 'We've got this far, but we're always going to fall short at the last hurdle.' It's the narrative of a lot of fans. It doesn't matter what club.

"But from our perspective, we just need to stay the course. We just need to stay settled. Whether we win, lose, or draw, we're pretty much there because we know this is a long season."

Millwall's recent form has opened up a six-point gap to the rest of the chasing pack, a valuable cushion given the Lions' tricky run-in.

"I don't really think about it," Neil said. "The simple fact is, we've still got really difficult venues to go to. We've got Ipswich away, we've got Middlesbrough away, we've got West Brom away, we've got Norwich to come here.

"We've got a lot of teams that are doing extremely well at the moment. So we've got some really difficult fixtures still to come. So right now, as it stands, our only thought process is get as many points on the board as we can."

Millwall are well poised for play-offs, but to do so they will need to navigate a brutal run of games stretching from the end of the month to early April.