Millwall 1-3 Middlesbrough: Boro back up cup shock with win at Lions
- Published
- comments
Isaiah Jones nabbed his sixth goal of the season to give Boro the lead against Millwall
Middlesbrough followed up their Carabao Cup semi-final heroics against Chelsea in midweek with an important win at in-form Millwall to move within a point of the Championship top-six.
Not even a traffic-affected late arrival could derail Michael Carrick's Teessiders, who came from behind to end the hosts' three-game winning run and revive their promotion bid.
It all started well for Joe Edwards and the Lions, as defender Joe Bryan thrashed home when Boro failed to clear, and Jake Cooper hit the crossbar in pursuit of a second.
Boro had failed to take the chances afforded to Morgan Rogers and Dael Fry, before Lukas Engel levelled when he fired home Sam Greenwood's tee-up.
Isaiah Jones gave the visitors the lead when he pounced on a Bryan clearance and lashed past Matija Sarkic.
Millwall continued to press for an equaliser but were unable to find a further way past Australian goalkeeper Tom Glover.
Marcus Forss made sure of victory for Boro in stoppage time when he smashed home a crucial third to delight their travelling support and hand Edwards a first home league loss since November.
This was a rare success for Boro in the capital, having failed to win any of their last eight matches on the road, and takes them up to ninth. two points behind Sunderland in sixth.
Millwall are now 16th in the table and eight points adrift of the play-off places.
They have also lost successive games at home, following last weekend's FA Cup defeat by Leicester.
Millwall manager Joe Edwards:
"We felt [Boro's depth] today. I've felt it in other games as well. I remember being stood down there when we were hanging on to a 1-0 lead against Norwich and when I saw the subs they were bringing on I thought 'wow, that's some impact and it will now get harder in the final 20 to 30 minutes'.
"There's a group of around seven of our players in their tracksuits today who are unable to play and that hurts us.
"It's disappointing. The goals they scored were soft and the bottom line is if you are playing a team at that level and dominate as much as we did in the first half an hour, we needed to cash in and get that second goal."
Middlesbrough manager Michael Carrick:
"We knew it was going to be a challenge but we found our way the longer the game went. I'm delighted for the boys.
"We showed good spirit and quality and the bench made the difference for us, which we missed for a period of time.
"I thought the squad felt strong today and it can get stronger. We have a good group. Marcus (Forss) has worked hard for a period of time now and it's a big goal for him and for us."