Millwall 1-0 Norwich City: Lions get back-to-back wins as upturn continues
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Millwall won back-to-back games for the first time this season as they beat Norwich City 1-0 in the Championship.
Tom Bradshaw slid in to put Millwall ahead early on from Brooke Norton-Cuffy's cross while Zian Flemming also went close for the impressive hosts before the break.
The Lions had chances to extend the lead shortly after the break as Norwich struggled with their creativity.
Angus Gunn kept his side in it with a number of good saves before Millwall had George Saville sent off late on for a dangerous tackle on Jonathan Rowe.
The win sees Millwall move up to 16th place in the table while the Canaries slip to 13th, five points off the play-off places.
Norwich started the game well with Ashley Barnes and Hwang Ui-jo having early chances.
The South Korean went down in the box and Millwall hit the Canaries on the break as Flemming found Aidomo Emakhu, who in turn played in Norton-Cuffy and his low cross was put away by a sliding Bradshaw.
It should have been 2-0 shortly before the break when Norton-Cuffy's floated cross from the right found an unmarked Flemming at the back post, but the Dutchman's powerful effort was superbly turned around the post by Gunn.
Millwall continued their form after the break and could have had a penalty when a shot appeared to be blocked by the arm of Ben Gibson.
Bradshaw missed the follow-up, while Emakhu forced a great save from Gunn at his near post and Norton-Cuffy had a header saved.
Norwich's Barnes and Millwall's Jake Cooper had a coming together, with Barnes feeling particularly aggrieved and almost getting himself sent off - the former Burnley striker was taken off soon after as part of a triple change which gave the Canaries some attacking impetus as Sam McCallum had a good effort saved.
Bradshaw fired over nine minutes from the end, while Gunn made a superb save from Ryan Longman soon after as Millwall went four games unbeaten under new boss Joe Edwards.
Saville's red card for a cynical challenge set up a tense end to the game but Norwich could not break through despite Marcelino Nunez going close.
Millwall head coach Joe Edwards told BBC Radio London:
"It's really important.
"We've been in a run of not a lot of wins, so when you get one like we did on Boxing Day it was important that we took that confidence and tried to build on it, particularly when you get the busy Christmas period and you get two home games in a row.
"An opponent came here that were really dangerous, they're good with the ball, can control games but they score a lot of goals as well.
"We had a clear plan that it was down to us to block those holes and frustrate them, but massively important that we still did it with a bit of aggression, still offered a threat going the other way, and I thought we got that balance perfectly and deserved the win."
Norwich City manager David Wagner told BBC Radio Norfolk:
"After a good 15 or 20 minutes we didn't continue to do what we did in that first 15-20 minutes when we started well, I think.
"Second half we totally played in their cards, we started to fight with individuals on the pitch, the discussions with the referee lifted the crowd, exactly what you should not do if you play Millwall away.
"This is exactly how Millwall plays and how Millwall sets themselves up, we've known this, especially our experienced players who have played often enough here and you have to calm down, go away and play your football - this is exactly what we haven't done and we really lifted the crowd."