Four takeaways from Millwall’s 2-0 win at Watford – it’s finally Vogi time, Flemming delivers again and Esse handed cameo

Andreas Voglsammer opened his account for the Lions with a composed finish midway through the first half before Hassane Kamara saw red for striking Danny McNamara just minutes before the break. Zian Flemming notched his 10th goal of the season with a devious free-kick in the 83rd minute to seal the points for Gary Rowett’s side.

Here are Daniel Marsh’s four takeaways from the match.

After blanking in his 18 previous Championship appearances, Andreas Voglsammer finally broke his Lions duck at Vicarage Road.

The former Union Berlin man has come close to finding the net on multiple occasions since arriving in SE16, but that first goal had managed to elude him until the 22nd minute of this festive clash. His low, crisp strike fizzed beyond Daniel Bachmann in the home goal to leave the Hornets, who had been outplayed until that point, with a mountain to climb.

Gary Rowett admitted after that match that there had, perhaps, been a bit of pressure building on Voglsammer in the wake of his long barren spell. The German forward has, though, contributed in recent weeks – he was heavily involved in a couple of Zian Flemming’s goals against Preston and even managed to grab an assist in the 4-2 win when his fizzed cross was powered home by Charlie Cresswell.

Voglsammer isn’t an orthodox right-winger, but he does have a wicked delivery and is full of endeavour. He will need to add goals to that mix if he is to maintain that spot, though. Hopefully, his maiden Millwall strike can be the catalyst for him to become a more consistent attacking outlet for the Lions during the second half of the season.

If you’re looking for consistency, then look no further than Zian Flemming. Millwall’s Dutch maestro made it double figures for the season with his whipped free-kick which whizzed past Daniel Bachmann.

With 10 strikes, the Lions’ club-record signing is now just behind Viktor Gyokeres (11) in the Championship scoring charts.

Although Flemming was hampered by injury in the early weeks of his Lions career, it was obvious that the ex-Fortuna Sittard man had the quality required to make an impact in the Championship. Few, though, would have predicted him hitting double figures before the turn of the year.

Millwall have hardly garnered a reputation for being prolific since returning to the Championship, but they have kept pace with their top-six rivals for the most part this term – largely thanks to Flemming.

Burnley and Sheffield United have quietly been pulling away, but the Lions (29) have notched more goals than Blackburn and just one fewer than Watford and Norwich having played a game less. Flemming now has five goals in his last four games – if he can keep that sort of form going in the New Year, then Millwall could consolidate their spot in the top-six.

After knocking off one of the sides heavily fancied for promotion for the second time in two months, Millwall nudged themselves into the play-off places. With other teams set to play later in the day, nobody really expected the Lions to still be in sixth spot at the end of Boxing Day – but they were.

Millwall now have a real opportunity to muscle their way into a powerful position – they have a game in hand on the majority of their top-six rivals after last weekend’s match against Luton was postponed and there are two winnable home games on the horizon in the form of Bristol City and Rotherham this week.

It’s a real opportunity for Millwall to take the next step in their bid to crack the play-offs. They’ve faltered when in a similar position before – the next few weeks could reveal a lot about Millwall’s ability to cope with the pressure of sustaining a top-six spot.

On a day where academy graduates Danny McNamara and Billy Mitchell shone, Romain Esse became the latest Lions youngster to make his senior bow.

Esse caught the eye with an impressive showing against Brondby during the World Cup break and was handed his professional debut in the final minutes at Vicarage Road.

The young winger, 17, showed some neat touches and he nearly played Flemming through on goal and was close to scrambling a loose ball over the line after Tom Bradshaw had somehow been thwarted by Bachmann again.

The majority of Millwall’s most memorable campaigns have been enjoyed by squads with a strong academy presence. Millwall’s U21s have flown this term under Kevin Nugent. Hopefully, Esse will not be the last of the Lions fledgling young cubs to be blooded into the senior ranks over the coming months.