Mitro’s on fire….but Millwall lack ice cool finishers to make Craven Cottage duel more nervy for Fulham

Aleksandar Mitrovic underlined why he has scored 30 league goals this season. And Millwall showed why their entire squad has bagged one fewer than the Serbian sniper.

There are only three clubs who have a lesser haul than the Lions in this campaign and two of those – Barnsley and Peterborough United – are in the Championship bottom three.

Millwall are averaging a goal a match and if that continues then they will finish on 46, which would be their worst return since climbing back to the second tier of English football in 2017.

A lack of firepower, or at least an inability to hit the back of the net on a far more regular basis, isn’t a new impediment for the Lions. They have not been higher than 16th in a table for league goals since they won promotion.

Even when they went close to cracking the top six in the 2017-18 season, Neil Harris’ outfit only scored 56 times.

Millwall have failed to net in six Championship matches this time around and four of those have been in their five most recent fixtures. But manager Gary Rowett had every right to feel aggrieved with his players that they produced another blank at Craven Cottage on Tuesday night.

Mason Bennett, Jed Wallace and Benik Afobe all had excellent chances to halve the deficit by the Thames and make the closing stages a lot more nervy for the league leaders.

By contrast, Mitrovic once again was in the right place at the right time and made the right connection.

Alex Pearce’s attempt to clear Neco Williams’ cross sat up perfectly for the Fulham centre-forward to break the deadlock shortly before the half-hour mark.

And you get no prizes for guessing who was lurking when Bartosz Bialkowski made an excellent stop from Fabio Carvalho early in the second half.

Mitrovic might be a basking shark in the Premier League, but he is a great white when he drops down a level.

Of the chances squandered by Millwall, Wallace’s felt like the pick of them with 20 minutes still on the clock.

Oliver Burke’s fine incursion, cutting in from the left, saw the Stoke loanee find the Lions substitute in plenty of space.

Wallace, so often reliable in that position, had time to take a touch but then drove his effort straight at Marek Rodak.

The Millwall attacker has not scored since October 19 and is still  building up fitness and match sharpness after missing the best part of six weeks with a quad problem.

Sometimes you need a little bit of luck too. Fulham’s first two goals featured favourable deflections and Antonee Robinson’s horribly sliced clearance from a venomous Bennett cross could easily have curled into his own net rather than going just wide of the upright.

But you’ve also got to convert big openings. Millwall didn’t do that and they paid the price with Bobby Decordova-Reid adding a late third.

Anyone just taking a glimpse at the scores would think it was a routine victory for the Whites but those in attendance know it did not play out like that.

STAR MAN
Murray Wallace. Filled in at left-wing back with typical efficiency.

BEST MOMENT
The way that Millwall played their way through the Fulham press on numerous occasions.