Oxford United manager Gary Rowett has made a superb start as head coach
Oxford United secured a first away win of the season and their third victory in three games under new boss Gary Rowett as they edged past Millwall at The Den.
Ruben Rodrigues' 57th-minute header secured the points for the Us as Rowett returned to the club where he spent four years as manager until 2023.
For Millwall, Alex Neil tasted defeat in his first game in charge since being apppointed on Monday.
Oxford, who were in the drop zone before Christmas, are now five points clear of danger.
They are two points behind the Lions who have only won one of their past 10 games and were booed off at full-time.
Oxford had failed to win any of their first 10 matches away from the Kassam Stadium and were thumped 4-0 last time out by Leeds.
But they are playing with a new confidence under Rowett, who took over from Des Buckingham on 20 December.
The breakthrough took until after half-time to arrive, which came as little surprise given no one has scored fewer goals this season than Millwall and Oxford were without a goal away from home since October.
Przemyslaw Placheta had looked the most likely source for the visitors in the first half with most of Oxford's attacking threat going through the Polish winger.
It was his cross from the right which was met by Rodrigues, the Portuguese centre forward rising above Japhet Tanganga and heading in.
Millwall had produced little to that point and their response to going behind was disappointing – a point made noisily by their support.
Aside from a weak-looking penalty claim when George Saville was challenged by Hidde ter Avest, waved away by the referee, it was hard to pinpoint an effort on goal.
Millwall, who have only scored 22 times in their 24 league matches this season, have now failed to find the back of the net in five of their past seven games.
Oxford, on the other hand, will take confidence into their next away match at mid-table Preston on Saturday - a side they could overtake with victory.
Oxford United head coach Gary Rowett:
"It was really gutsy and that was the pleasing thing, particularly this season, the team haven't won away from home. Sometimes you have to show different sides to your game in the Championship.
"First half we started a little bit tentatively, I wanted us to try and keep the ball just so we limited, in Alex's first game, that intensity, that pressure in pinning us in and making it difficult for us.
"I thought we did it at times okay, we got a bit bogged down, but as the half went on, we started to look a little more dangerous.
"Second half was probably who was going to get a goal and then have the opportunity to sit in and defend it.
"It was a good goal, I thought we used Chemmy [Przemyslaw Placheta] really well today, I thought he caused Joe Bryan a few problems and he did it for the goal."
Millwall boss Alex Neil:
"I learned a lot in the fact we've not been the type of team who dominates the ball, and you can see that, and you can hear that. The minute we were maybe making two or three passes along the back, there was a little bit of agitation in the crowd.
"I think for all the volume, our opportunities we had in wide areas – I looked at the stats and we had double the amount of final-third entries, we had double the amount of touches in the box – we just didn't have that killer instinct to get the goal when we needed it.
"You could see the disappointment in the lads after the game, where we've lost a match. I didn't think it was a poor performance, I thought there were some really good bits to like about it, but there's certainly stuff for us to work on."
