Cardiff City 1-0 Millwall: Dimitrios Goutas header earns Bluebirds victory over Lions
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Cardiff City defender Dimitrios Goutas scored the game's only goal
Dimitrios Goutas' late header earned Cardiff City a gritty 1-0 win over Millwall.
After a dour first half, Yakou Meite, Duncan Watmore, Zian Flemming and Kevin Nisbet all had chances after the restart.
But Goutas headed home his third goal of the campaign on 78 minutes to settle the contest.
Defeat leaves Joe Edwards' side winless in four games while Cardiff bounced back from successive losses.
Cardiff are seventh in the Championship, with Millwall 19th.
Strong winds in the Welsh capital did little to improve the quality on show early on.
Millwall's Matija Sarkic - who had come in for regular first-choice goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski - had to be alert to claw away Ryan Wintle's inswinging corner on 14 minutes.
The Lions briefly threatened to lift a dour contest, although Flemming could only drag his effort wide following a slick attacking move.
It was Millwall who registered the game's first shot on target in the final minute of the opening half.
Ryan Leonard found space on the right flank before picking out Nisbet in the box, although the Scottish forward's effort was comfortably saved by Alex Runarsson.
Brooke Norton-Cuffy then fired a tame effort goalwards from 25 yards in added time, although Runarsson was untroubled as a drab half ended goalless.
Erol Bulut responded by sending on Meite and Rubin Colwill for Ike Ugbo and Callum Robinson.
But Millwall had the first chance of the second half as Flemming was left unmarked from Ryan Longman's corner, although the Dutchman headed over.
They went even closer to breaking the deadlock minutes later as Nisbet's curling free-kick skimmed just wide of Runnarson's near post.
Substitute Colwill looked to inject a spark into proceedings as he jinked into space before drilling wide on the hour mark.
It took until the 64th minute for Cardiff to register their first attempt on goal, when Josh Bowler intercepted a loose pass but Meite's first-time effort was well saved by Sarkic as the game finally showed signs of life.
Joe Ralls and Kion Etete came on for Wintle and Bowler while Watmore and Tom Bradshaw replaced Flemming and Nisbet in the 70th minute as both managers sought a winner.
Etete almost made an instant impact, although he was unable to guide his driven strike on target in what was by now a far livelier affair.
But the hosts went in front 12 minutes from time as Goutas rose above the Millwall defence to head Ralls' corner beyond Sarkic.
Runarsson denied Watmore before Aidomo Emakhu drilled into the side netting in the final stages.
But Cardiff held on to seal a second win in six outings, with Edwards' side failing to taste victory since his opening match as boss against Sheffield Wednesday.
Cardiff City boss Erol Bulut: "When we see the whole game, it wasn't the best quality game.
"It was an aggressive game. We needed to manage it better, take better passing options [because] we lost a lot of balls.
"It was one of those games where if you score the first goal you win the game. We scored it and got the three points."
Millwall boss Joe Edwards: "In general the game was poor, lacking in quality from both teams.
"It looked like a bit of a stalemate at times. We just weren't able to gain any momentum in attack.
"It was a disappointing performance, not for the want of application. We were well organised, but a lack of quality has cost us."