Millwall 1-2 Blackburn Rovers: Callum Brittain goal seals comeback win for visitors
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Callum Brittain's goal was his first since August 2019 when he was playing for Milton Keynes Dons
Callum Brittain's excellent goal ensured a third successive Championship victory for Blackburn Rovers as they came from a goal behind to win 2-1 at managerless Millwall.
Wes Harding's opener was a gift as the Millwall defender's weak close-range header somehow slipped through the hands of Leopold Wahlstedt and into the net after just two-and-a-half minutes.
Rovers equalised with a similar gift as Bartosz Bialkowski somehow let Joe Rankin-Costello's shot squirm under his right arm.
But Brittain's curling strike early in the second half sealed the win as Millwall tried in vain to get an equaliser.
The victory moves Rovers up to 10th place - one point off the play-off places - while Millwall drop to 16th.
Blackburn had conceded only once in their past three games and had lost only once to Millwall in their past 15 meetings, but they were left stunned by their poor start as a looping free-kick was not properly cleared before Wahlstedt's bad error.
The Lions had a shout for a penalty 10 minutes later when Aidomo Emakhu went down in the box as they started strongly under caretaker boss Adam Barrett.
But Rovers levelled with their first real effort on goal as a nice one-two between Brittain and Rankin-Costello ended with the latter hitting a saveable low shot that Bialkowski misjudged - perhaps being unsighted by a defender.
Bialkowski redeemed himself eight minutes later with a superb close-range low save from Harry Pickering after Dominic Hyam had put the ball across the face of goal following a long throw.
Rovers did go ahead six minutes after the restart when James Hill's raking long pass from deep inside his own half found Brittain who flew down the right wing into the box, cut inside on to his left foot and curled a superb shot into the top-left corner.
The goal kicked Millwall into life as Tom Bradshaw, Romain Esse and Brooke Norton-Cuffy all had efforts saved or blocked in quick succession.
Soon after Bialkowski again kept Millwall in it as he saved a close-range shot from substitute Andrew Moran before parrying away the follow-up cross.
Millwall again created chances as Jake Cooper, Bradshaw and Harding all went close - the latter sliding on to a Bradshaw flick-on from a corner and diverting the ball the wrong side of the far post.
With 10 minutes to go Rovers almost made the game safe when Sammie Szmodics saw Bialkowski palm an effort from 12 yards on to the crossbar before Bradshaw had a penalty claim waved away at the other end as Lions caretaker manager Barrett awaits his first win since Gary Rowett's departure.
Millwall caretaker manager Adam Barrett told BBC Radio London:
"You look back at little key moments. The first goal was offside, I wasn't happy with our defending, the build-up to it, so that's annoying.
"Bradders [Tom Bradshaw] has a shout for a penalty, it doesn't get given, so obviously I'm not happy with that.
"Second half was a lot better, that's how I want to play, with tempo. We looked on the front foot more coming out of the duals winning tackles, so I was pleased with the second half.
"We've now got to put that together over a 90-minute spell."
Blackburn Rovers head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"It was a brilliant win. We knew it was going to be extremely difficult to come to Millwall and go home with three points.
"I'm extremely delighted, especially when you concede after two minutes, the boys showed resolve, they stayed in the game.
"It probably wasn't our best game on the ball, but football's also a lot of different things - working hard, showing spirit, togetherness and resilience.
"I think we scored an excellent goal with the first goal for Joe [Rankin-Costello], quick football, one and two touches.
"I think it was the first goal for Callum [Brittain] - he's maybe scored in training once but it's the first goal in four years - so it was great to see a finish like that after a switch in play from James Hill.
"I'm delighted. I'm also extremely happy to give our fans a good journey back."