MILLWALL survived a late scare to secure a 1-0 win over Derby County and take another important step towards their first Championship play-off berth in 20 years.
The Lions were in cruise control for the opening hour and were well worth their 1-0 lead, taken when Josh Coburn flicked in Tristan Crama’s looped ball into the box shortly before half-time.
Derby threw on attacking reinforcements on the hour mark and were inches away from a late equaliser, with Carlton Morris heading wide from yards out and Patrick Agyemang hitting the post.
Millwall, again, did just enough to secure the result against a side with top-six ambitions, picking up their fifth win in their past six.
The Lions are now fourteen points ahead of the seventh-placed Rams and have to be looking to challenge for automatic promotion. They are only one point off second-placed Middlesbrough, who they face at the Riverside Stadium in a few weeks.
The match got off to a quick start. Both were organised and played with aggression and speed from the opening whistle, leading to an up-tempo game in which the two teams essentially cancelled each other out.
Millwall did have more possession, however, with Barry Bannan often orchestrating their final-third endeavours, while Derby looked to play in transition.
The opening 20 minutes did not yield much. Patrick Agyemang had a header scrambled clear following a corner, and Jake Cooper blocked a Ben Brereton Diaz effort.
The Lions’ first chance of the game came in the 23rd minute when Lewis Travers brought down Ivanovic a few metres outside the box and the Serbian striker crashed the free kick into the wall.
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Ivanovic got his head on the resulting corner, and after bouncing through a sea of bodies, Crama went down under pressure, looking for a penalty. Referee Matthew Donohue, however, was not sympathetic to the Frenchman’s pleas.
The chances started to flow after that. Sturge met Azeez’s cross with a powerful header, forcing Josh Vickers to tip the ball over the bar. Josh Coburn then hit the post from the corner, although the referee immediately whistled for a Derby free kick.
Derby had a spell of possession in Millwall’s half that culminated in Joe Ward having a go from an ambitiously long distance, and it sailed well wide.
After that brief interlude, the match continued to mostly go in the Lions’ favour. Azeez pinged in a lovely ball from the right that Coburn put over the bar from close range under pressure from Dion Sanderson.
He would find the back of the net just three minutes later. Bannan put a free kick into the box that was initially cleared before Crama hooked it back in. Coburn had to jump backwards, almost like a salmon, and somehow managed to nod it into the far corner.
Millwall were all over the Rams, and Coburn nearly doubled his tally straight from the restart. Mitchell won the ball in midfield and fired it forward to the big striker. He cut inside, took a few touches, then forced Vickers to spring to his left to tip it round the post.
The Lions ended the first half strongly and started the second in a similar vein, immediately putting the Rams under pressure and having a penalty shout waved away when Cooper went down during a corner.
In the 55th minute, Azeez thumped a free kick into the wall, Millwall recycled it, then Ivanovic headed Mitchell’s cross wide.
Derby had another brief foray into the Lions’ half in the 63rd minute, resulting in Lewis Travis smashing one wide from outside the box, to his teammates’ evident frustration.
Ivanovic had another headed effort five minutes later, connecting with Camiel Neghli’s cross but putting it straight at Vickers.
Millwall kept up the spell of pressure, and Azeez was the latest to come close. Danny McNamara’s cross missed everyone, and Neghli put the ball back in with an outrageous rabona. Ivanovic flicked it onto Azeez, and the winger fired wide under pressure.
Rams boss John Eustace made several attacking changes on the hour mark, and they started to make a difference.
The powerful Agyemang had mostly been kept quiet by Crama but finally got the better of the Frenchman in the 69th minute, muscling him out of the way after the ball was lumped up to him. He was in one-on-one, but snatched at it and put his effort wide.
The game was far more open for the final 20 minutes, with spaces opening up for both teams and Derby having far more of the ball.
It did not, however, lead to much in the final third for either side, with the final ball often lacking.
The Rams did have another fantastic chance in the 82nd minute, set up again by Agyemang, who forced Crama into a poor clearance that Szmodics seized on, drove forward and smashed wide.
Derby should have had the equaliser in the 91st minute when the ball sat up for Carlton Morris at the back post, but his diving header somehow bounced wide.
Agyemang then hit the post in added-time but Millwall held on to claim the win.
Millwall: 4-4-2 – Patterson; McNamara, Crama, Cooper, Sturge; Azeez (Watson 89), Bannan (Cundle 72), Mitchell (Smallbone 89), Neghli; Ivanovic (Langstaff 72), Coburn (Mazou-Sacko 91)
Unused Substitutes: Crocombe, Ballo, Bryan, Bangura-Williams,
Derby County: 4-2-3-1 – Vickers (O’Donnell 86); Ward, Sanderson, Clarke, Murkin; Ozoh (Clark 46), Travis (Fraulo 84); Brereton Diaz (Banel 60), Szmodics, Brewster (Morris 60); Agyemang
Unused Substitutes: Forsyth, Eames, Gordon, Allen
Referee: Matt Donohue
Attendance: 15,939 (1,801)
