The lowdown on Millwall 0 Coventry 1 – Lions’ unbeaten Championship run ended as Harris underwhelmed by bench impact

Millwall lost at The Den for the first time since September 14 as Ephron Mason-Clark’s second-half goal gave Frank Lampard that winning feeling for the first time since being appointed Coventry City head coach.

Here is the lowdown on the match.

THE LINE-UPS

Millwall: Jensen, McNamara (Bradshaw 86), Wallace, Leonard, Bryan, De Norre (Mitchell 80), Saville (Wintle 80), Honeyman (Emakhu 64), Watmore (Ivanovic64), Azeez, Langstaff. Subs not used: Roberts, Mayor, Smith, Harding.
Coventry City: Collins, Van Ewijk, Latibeaudiere, Thomas, Bidwell (Dasilva 74), Sheaf, Torp (Eccles 61), Sakamoto (Tavares 90+5), Mason-Clark (Thomas-Asante 74), Rudoni, Simms (Bassette 81). Subs not used: Dovin, Binks, Allen, Kitching.

SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME
Maybe the match would have played out differently if Joe Bryan’s early goal – direct from a corner – had not been disallowed for a foul on Coventry goalkeeper Bradley Collins. Instead, you have to say that Coventry City created more chances once a game of football actually broke out in the second half. The Sky Blues finished with an xG (expected goals) of 1.53 to Millwall’s 0.48 – Lukas Jensen made a couple of crucial saves as well as defender Bobby Thomas hitting the left upright with a powerful header. The Lions did have late pressure as they threw on attacking players but failed to find any moment of quality.

TACTICAL APPROACH
Neil Harris had a number of players unavailable to him – Japhet Tanganga, Jake Cooper, Josh Coburn and Romain Esse. Ryan Leonard played alongside Murray Wallace in the middle of the defence and the pairing acquitted themselves pretty well. Wallace had only played 11 minutes of Championship football prior to completing the full match today. It felt like Millwall needed to make changes early in the second half as Coventry City had a spell and it looked as though first-team coach Adam Barrett was talking to the fourth official about substitutions just moments before Mason-Clark netted what proved to be the winner. Aidomo Emakhu had a few decent runs down the left as the hosts tried to crack the Coventry defence.

STAR MAN
Lukas Jensen. One instinctive save at point-blank range from Mason-Clark kept it 0-0 early in the second half. Also needed to be alert to save from Jack Rudoni. Nearly blotted his copybook when Coventry substitute Norman Bassette nearly nicked the ball off his foot as he went to kick clear.

BEST MOMENT
The pre-match tribute to John Docherty. Millwall always get these things right. Footage on the big screen of The Doc and his players celebrating promotion to England’s top division in 1988 – including all chanting ‘No one likes us’. And there were plenty of that team on the pitch before the match to pay their respects. Docherty’s daughter Ruth and grandson Adam led the two teams out before kick off.

MOAN OF THE MATCH
Ryan Leonard getting booked for dissent. He was one of four Lions players on four bookings and his fifth caution means he misses the Sheffield United match on Wednesday.

A TALKING POINT DOWN THE PUB
It’s not been the first time this season, or even just the second, that Harris has talked about lacking the quality off the bench to ensure that Millwall get a positive result. It echoed, to a degree, what the club’s all-time record goalscorer said after seeing Oxford come back to take a point the previous weekend. It was also clear that Harris’s comments after the loss to Coventry City underlines his frustration that injuries and unavailibility of key personnel were not being taken into consideration.

WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY
“Their subs made a real difference. They had some really good players coming off the bench. We just looked like a team that was trying really hard and just lacked the moments.”