The talking points from Portsmouth 0 Millwall 1 – Tanganga stats underline his rock-like status as Neil finds way to win without key personnel
Millwall made it back-to-back Championship wins for the first time since early November as Mihailo Ivanovic’s 40th-minute goal earned a 1-0 victory at Portsmouth on Tuesday.
Here are Richard Cawley’s talking points from the Championship encounter.
SIX OF THE BEST
Millwall head into tomorrow’s home derby against QPR with two wins on the bounce but crucially it is another number – six – which has made the league table far more pleasant viewing.
That is how many points Alex Neil’s side have taken off Luton Town and Portsmouth, both in serious peril of dropping into League One, to move themselves 10 points clear of the bottom three.
Millwall had only won once on the road in the Championship – at Swansea – in late October – prior to their two most recent fixtures but their away form has not been terrible, by any stretch.
They are now unbeaten in four matches on the road and have lost four out of 15 – with seven draws.
Fratton Park has been a recent happy hunting ground for the Lions. They won 1-0 there in the EFL Cup in August and this time ended Portsmouth’s impressive seven-game unbeaten run which included six victories.
Pompey had lost just two of their last 19 home league matches against Millwall, winning 10, before Tuesday’s fixture.
MIHAILO MAGIC
Millwall splashed a club record fee for Ivanovic at the end of August and the youngster has already started paying back on that outlay.
The 20-year-old has five goals and his four in the Championship have all been vital in terms of points.
Three have been the only goals in the matches and the other, a composed finish against Derby County at The Den, made it 1-1.
Without Ivanovic’s scoring contributions then Millwall would be 10 points worse off, putting them level pegging with 22nd-placed Derby County.
It has been a good week for the Serbian international. He struck superbly from the edge of the box in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Luton Town and then showed his composure in key moments to dink the ball beyond Portsmouth keeper Nicolas Schmid. He still had plenty to do after Ra’ees Bangura-
Williams slipped him in following a sharp one-two with Casper De Norre.
Ivanovic only had 18 touches, compared to the 39 against Luton when he linked the play so well, but no-one will complain when he supplied the end product.
TANGANGA A STEAL
Millwall were ultra resilient defensively to frustrate a Portsmouth side who ramped up the pressure in the second half.
And while it seems a bit unfair to single out one player from an assured and determined backline, I’m still going to do it.
There must be plenty of clubs at this level who are ruing the fact they did not move for Japhet Tanganga when he was released by Tottenham in the summer.
Perhaps some of them were concerned about his injury history. If so it has been their loss and Millwall’s massive gain.
Tanganga was a rock during his loan with the South Londoners for the second half of the last campaign and has seamlessly carried that on.
Tanganga produced 15 clearances at Portsmouth with Tristan Crama (13) and Jake Cooper (nine) the next most. For context, the whole Portsmouth team had 19.
He also led the way for aerial duels (eight) – Cooper just one behind that total.
Losing attacker Romain Esse to Crystal Palace in this transfer window was a big blow but arguably Tanganga’s absence would be the most keenly felt.
Millwall could face a real battle to retain his services in the longer term, he looks too good to be staying at this level.
NEIL FINDS A WAY
Millwall’s head coach has had to contend with a major injury list and deserves credit for finding a way to still get results in a crunch sequence of matches.
The Lions had seven first-teamers absent at Portsmouth – Lukas Jensen, Ryan Leonard, Danny McNamara, Calum Scanlon, Femi Azeez, Josh Coburn and Aidomo Emakhu.
Liverpool loanee Scanlon has suffered a grade three hamstring injury which could mean that his season is over.
Neil has found a way to work around squad shortcomings, including fielding Tristan Crama at right-back.
The Frenchman, signed from Brentford recently, had his hands full with Josh Murphy, Portsmouth’s best attacking outlet, but manfully stuck to his task.
Normally a centre-back, Crama made the most passes (41) of any Millwall player – next was goalkeeper Liam Roberts (33).
The Lions really struggled to retain possession but know a thing or two about defending a lead.
Their last seven wins in the Championship have all been by a 1-0 scoreline.
The only league victory in which they have conceded this season was in the 3-1 result over Preston – and the clean sheet was only wiped then in the 87th minute by Jordan Storey.
It underlines how the first goal is huge for Millwall. Quite often they can grind over the line.
