Millwall 1-0 Bristol City: Lions win for first time in six games
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Jed Wallace ensured Bristol City assistant manager Curtis Fleming left The Den empty-handed after stepping in for self-isolating boss Nigel Pearson
Millwall got a first win in six games as they beat Bristol City at The Den in the Championship.
After a goalless first hour Millwall introduced attacking talisman Jed Wallace, and he took just four minutes to put his side ahead from the penalty spot.
Billy Mitchell almost sealed the victory with a minute to go, but his weak shot after good work by George Saville was well saved by the impressive Daniel Bentley.
City, who were missing manager Nigel Pearson after a positive Covid-19 test, struggled to create many clear-cut chances as their five-game unbeaten run came to an end.
Victory lifts Millwall, who had drawn their previous four league matches, up to 14th in the table, one point behind City who slip down to 10th position.
Both sides were grateful to their goalkeepers for keeping the score goalless at the break - Bartosz Bialkowski did well at his near post to thwart Tyreeq Bakinson after good work by Andreas Weimann after 17 minutes.
But it was Bentley - making his 100th appearance for City - who ensured his side were level at the break with two great saves from former Robins striker Benik Afobe.
The first came at point-blank range after Afobe had beaten the offside trap, before he parried a powerful header around the post in first-half stoppage time.
The visitors increased the intensity after the break, but it was Millwall who took the lead through Wallace's spot kick. It came after Bakinson was dispossessed by George Saville in midfield and his excellent ball set Afobe free on goal but Rob Atkinson bundled him over.
Wallace, who had missed the last two games with injury, made no mistake from 12 yards as he sent Bentley the wrong way.
Millwall manager Gary Rowett told BBC Radio London:
"We've worked hard in this period and I think we've been very unfortunate not to have won more games, but the fact of the matter is we haven't won those games.
"We had to go and earn it today, we had to win whichever way we could and I felt as though we were worth our goal, even though it probably came at a time when Bristol just started to create one or two problems for us.
"Jed's certainly good for a penalty, he's been excellent for us in terms of handling the pressure of those moments.
"To go 1-0 up I was really pleased and I felt on the balance of play overall I think we just about deserved that, and it was just whether we could see the game out."
Bristol City assistant manager Curtis Fleming told BBC Radio Bristol:
"There's disappointment in there, I don't think it's a game we should have lost, but I don't know whether we did enough to win it.
"I think we had enough chances in their final third, first half I thought we gave the ball away too much in good positions forcing things.
"Second half we gave the goal away probably when we were in our best stage of play, which is disappointing, and it's a couple of mistakes that led to it.
"But if we'd have walked out of here with a point we'd have all gone 'OK' and I think they would have been happy with that."