Millwall 2-1 Stoke City: Tom Bradshaw's brace gives Lions victory

Tom Bradshaw's goals turned the match in Millwall's favour

Tom Bradshaw's second-half double secured Millwall's fourth win in five games as they came from behind to beat Stoke at The Den.

The Potters took the lead when on-loan midfielder Romaine Sawyers drove home his first goal for the club midway through the first half.

But Bradshaw turned the game around with two goals in 10 minutes, stabbing home Sheyi Ojo's cross before Ryan Leonard set him up to make it 2-1.

Josh Tymon and Steven Fletcher went close to levelling but were unable to prevent a third straight defeat for Michael O'Neill's side.

Although Millwall applied much of the early pressure, with Bradshaw working hard up front, it was the visitors who created better openings.

Bartosz Bialkowksi pulled off a superb reaction stop to claw away Jacob Brown's header, but the Lions goalkeeper was powerless to prevent Stoke taking a 20th-minute lead.

Brown was involved again, laying off Tymon's pass to find Sawyers, who cut inside his marker before rifling into the top corner for his first goal in two years.

Ojo posed a threat on the left flank, firing just wide of the post before half-time, and the winger set up the equaliser six minutes into the second period, whipping in a cross for Bradshaw to find the net.

It was the striker's first goal of the season - and his second soon followed, with Leonard playing the ball across for him to tap in after Stoke had failed to clear a free-kick.

Stoke fought back and Tymon's angled effort hit the crossbar before Ben Wilmot set up Fletcher, with Bialkowski producing another save to preserve his side's advantage.

Substitute Matt Smith might have made certain of victory with a late third as Bradshaw played him in but, although he was off target, Millwall saw out the game safely.

Millwall manager Gary Rowett told BBC London 94.9:

"We're aware our home performances haven't been as good as we'd like, and that continued in the first 20 to 25 minutes.

"You could feel the players, our stadium, just felt a little bit edgy. We didn't play with the right quality and we struggled to stop them controlling possession.

"At half-time we decided to go for it, really, and got our rewards. As soon as that chaos started to appear in the game, it looked like we were more comfortable in the chaos than Stoke were.

"When we scored, it looked potentially like we might get another. I'd like us to see out the game a little more comfortably but Stoke have got lots of good options and I thought we handled it pretty well."

Stoke manager Michael O'Neill told BBC Radio Stoke:

"We had a really good start, now we've lost three in a row and the nature of the losses is concerning. I don't think we've been outplayed in any of the games but when we've been dominant, we haven't been ruthless enough to go and win them.

"We had control of the game, we went 1-0 ahead and had other possible opportunities and a very strong claim for a penalty that wasn't given.

"Then it just felt like we gave them a little bit of oxygen in the last 10 minutes of the first half and that carried on in the second half.

"We lost two poor goals in the middle of our six-yard box, crosses come in which are too easy and you don't expect our back three to lose goals in that area of the pitch. Ultimately we've made poor decisions consistently across the back three."