Millwall in the business end of the Championship season – and results speak for themselves

We’re at the business end of the season and Millwall are doing a roaring trade. Not with a flourish or with a heavy sprinkling of flair, but when did that ever matter?

The cold, hard facts are that the Lions are looking to finish in the top six – by any means necessary. And so the fact they have had to grind their way to wins over Reading and Swansea City is not going to be keeping Gary Rowett, or any of his players, awake tossing and turning at night.

They can sleep soundly.

Tuesday’s 2-1 victory against Russell Martin’s possession-obsessed Swansea is only the second time this season that the Lions have recorded back-to-back successes.

If they can make it a hat-trick by seeing off Huddersfield Town in SE16 tomorrow then it will be their best winning run since taking 12 points from a possible 12 in October.

Millwall head into the international break in the top six and with only nine games left to go.

It’s exciting. It’s tantalising. It’s also going to be, at least a little bit, torturous if it goes right to the wire.

But nobody can dispute that this looks to be Millwall’s best chance of reaching the play-offs at this level since they actually did it, in the 2001-02 campaign under Mark McGhee.

It just feels like this could be the year.

Swansea arrived in SE16 unbeaten in their last six matches there. The last time they had lost at The Den was March 2007, when Paul Robinson and Neil Harris were on target. But Millwall got the job done in a match of starkly differing approaches.

All of the neat passing from Swansea, intricately working the ball around on the deck, counted for nothing early into the second half as Millwall’s ability to spark chaos from dead ball situations paid off.

One humongous throw-in from Ryan Leonard led to a frantic penalty box melee, Tom Bradshaw claiming that Charlie Cresswell’s shot came off his calf on its way past City keeper Andy Fisher.

Soon after and it looked like the outcome was sealed when Andreas Voglsammer’s shot deceived Fisher, his botched handling perhaps excused by another slight nick – this time after Swansea full-back Ryan Manning’s sliding attempt to block.

But Millwall’s hopes of a mundane and serene finale were dashed before the hour mark.

Swansea captain Matt Grimes’ effort looked to be drifting wide before it struck Manning and deviated into the back of the net.

Millwall’s defensive strength means they are never overly concerned about bunkering down and attempting to see out a result.

Rowett made the decision in the 88th minute to switch to a back five, Shaun Hutchinson coming on for Zian Flemming.

Swansea had two notable attempts after making it 2-1, Long turning Morgan Whittaker’s shot around his left post while Manning arrowed a left-footed attempt wide of the same upright, but prising open Millwall’s clam-like backline is a real challenge.

The Lions have often been left needing snookers in previous seasons as they try to chase down the leading pack.

This season they have consistently stayed in and around those coveted spots near the top of the table. If they can defeat Huddersfield this weekend then it will be akin to producing some impressive potting and then bringing the cue ball back onto the cushion at the safe end of the table.

Rowett was asked on Tuesday night whether he preferred to be the chaser or the pursued when it comes to the promotion picture.

“I prefer to be in there with more points than other teams out of it – it’s pretty simple really,” he said.

“I think people that say they like to be chasing, I like to be eighth or ninth now, I think they do that because it is the only thing you can say when you are eighth or ninth, of course you flip it around.

“You’ve got to keep focusing on what you’ve got to do it. It’s not easy – you don’t know what is going to happen. It’s boring but it has to be each game and each training session. How are you going to recover now? If you turn up sore on Thursday then you’re not in the right position to play on Saturday. All those little things matter.

“It’s not about what the end goal looks like but about making sure you take every step and do what we can. If we don’t then we’ll fall short.”

If Millwall maintain their average points return from the last 10 matches – 1.8 – they will finish with a total of 76. It should be enough.

Rinse and repeat. Easier said then done – but that is what is required as the pressure dials up that little bit more.

STAR MAN
Charlie Cresswell. Typified Millwall’s dogged defending in the closing stages.

BEST MOMENT
Ryan Leonard powering into a 50-50, emerging with the ball and then forcing Fisher into a diving save to keep out his 20-yard strike.