Millwall vs Birmingham City. Sky Bet Championship.
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Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Millwall and Birmingham at The Den as goals from Murray Wallace, Tom Bradshaw and George Evans steered the Lions to victory; Play stopped in sixth minute for tribute to Arthur Labinjo-Hughes
Saturday 4 December 2021 19:58, UK
Millwall ended a four-game winless streak with a 3-1 home victory over mid-table rivals Birmingham.
The Lions were two goals up by half-time through efforts from Murray Wallace and Tom Bradshaw.
Troy Deeney's second-half strike gave Blues hope but George Evans sealed the points with Millwall's third 17 minutes from time.
Visiting boss Lee Bowyer brought in Neil Etheridge for his first league start this season, replacing the injured Matija Sarkic in goal, and he had little to do in a quiet opening.
Play stopped in the sixth minute as players and supporters from both sides came together for a minute's applause in memory of six-year-old Birmingham fan Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.
Four minutes later, the hosts took the lead. A well-worked corner found Evans but when his shot was blocked, the ball kindly to Wallace and the Scottish defender made no mistake from six yards.
Millwall should have doubled their advantage in the 22nd minute, but Benik Afobe's header flew just past Etheridge in the Birmingham goal.
Five minutes before half-time, the Lions did get their second after again making the most of a corner.
This time Bradshaw was on the receiving end of Scott Malone's incoming ball and his powerful header flew into the net.
Millwall started the second half on top and Bradshaw nearly got his second with a half-volley which forced Etheridge down low to make a great save.
Birmingham halved the deficit in the 57th minute when captain Deeney combined well with Scott Hogan to get past the Millwall defence before blasting a rocket past Bartosz Bialkowski into the roof of the net in front of the travelling fans.
The hosts thought they had restored their two-goal lead four minutes later from yet another corner, only for Afobe to be ruled offside in the build-up.
Afobe was involved in another glorious opportunity for the Lions, his low shot again forcing Etheridge to parry the ball round for another corner.
But the Blues stopper could do nothing to prevent Evans adding to the Lions' lead in the 73rd minute, curling beautifully into the top corner after a period of good pressure from the hosts as they reaffirmed their control over a tight game.
Etheridge was involved again to prevent two Millwall attempts in quick succession, first from Jed Wallace and then Malone's instinctive reaction to the initial save.
Birmingham substitute Chuks Aneke shot straight at Bialkowski in stoppage time as the visitors tried to find a consolation without success.
The Blues are now left with only one win in their last nine league matches.
Millwall's Gary Rowett: "It was a complete performance over the 90 minutes. We've started really well in a lot of games this season, but what we've not managed to do sometimes is score that first goal and we've not managed to score two goals in many games.
"We've been a little bit critical of the fact we don't think we've scored enough this season, or been dangerous enough. We were excellent in the first half and excellent value for our lead. We've had 10 shots on target today, which is unheard of for us. It would have been almost criminal if we hadn't scored more than two goals today. I'm a little bit disappointed we didn't score more than three."
Birmingham's Lee Bowyer: "It's a difficult place to come and a very hostile crowd. I warned the players yesterday that if you come here, don't fight and compete, then you're going to lose the game. If you don't stick together as a group, you'll lose the game. We were too soft in the first half. We allowed them to win every second ball, the basics of the game, set-pieces, marking, it's not good enough. It's not like us, we're normally better than that.
"It was a great goal from Troy [Deeney]. I think that's the best he's played since he's been at the club. He caused them problems all day. We had to be braver once we scored but we weren't. For some reason, we stopped doing the things that were hurting them in the first 15 minutes of the second half."
