Two second-half goals secured Millwall’s fourth win of the season over Birmingham in Saturday’s televised late-kick off at the Den.

Birmingham got the game under way, but it was Millwall who started off the better of the two sides.

The Lions had their first chance on goal after 11 minutes when Jake Cooper put in a free kick from the half way line and Morison headed the ball down for Lee Gregory.

Gregory’s shot from 12 yards took a deflection, going just wide of Birmingham’s goal.

Aiden O’Brien went close after 17 minutes, but his effort went over the top of Tomasz Kuszczak’s crossbar.

The Blues then got themselves into the game with some good attacking pressure, but Millwall’s defence stood strong and prevented any clear-cut chances from Steve Cotterill’s men.

Breakthrough

It wasn’t until the end of the half when the game started to liven up again. Che Adams saw his low cross blaze across Jordan Archer’s goal with no one able to get the vital touch.

In the 42nd minute a mix up between Kuszczak and Maikel Kieftenbeld almost allowed Jed Wallace in, but Kuszczak prevented any embarrassment.

On virtually the last kick of the half, Isaac Vassell had Birmingham’s best chance as he broke through Millwall’s defence with ease, but pulled his shot just wide of Archer’s goal, meaning the teams went into half time all square.

Millwall started the second half, and within two minutes the hosts’ persistence was rewarded.

Impact sub

Morison broke through the Birmingham defence and tried cutting the ball back to Jed Wallace, instead the ball found Birmingham’s Maxime Colin who turned the ball in to his own net.

The first goal saw the game begin to open up with more attacking chances for both sides.

It wasn’t until the 76th minute when Millwall got their second.

Tom Elliott replaced Morison and within minutes Elliott had a shot on goal. Kuszczak could only push out to Tunnicliffe whose first goal for the club was enough to ensure The Lions emerged two-nil winners.

 “Outstanding”

Speaking to Millwall’s official website after the match, Neil Harris praised his side’s “outstanding performance” after a “scrap” and a “battle”.

“Despite the odd spell, we were on the front foot for the whole game. I thought we had key moments, especially in the play leading up to the goals”, he said.

The win moves Millwall up to 15th in the Championship, where they have a week to prepare for a difficult trip to second placed Cardiff on Saturday 28th.

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Marcus Lee works at West Ham United. He provides match previews, match reports and news articles on the women’s team for the official club website and writes content for match-day programmes. During this time Marcus has developed key contacts with numerous members of the club.
Marcus is also a UELSports Multimedia Intern. He films and edits highlights of sports at UEL, with Lewis McKean, for the official UELSports social media pages.
He is the Rising East editor for West Ham United Women, Millwall and Millwall Lionesses.
Twitter: @marcus_lee