Millwall

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Until recently, Millwall had developed a consistent habit of winning matches 1-0 - but it looks as though 1-1 has now taken over as the Londoners' favourite scoreline in recent weeks.

The Lions have drawn three games in a row with a goal apiece, against Stoke, Sunderland and Oxford, within a nine-match undefeated run that has taken them to 10th in the table, five points shy of the play-offs.

Visitors Coventry have also got into a familiar pattern of late, with three of their last four games ending 2-2 - the most recent of those coming at home to Cardiff last weekend in Frank Lampard's first fixture as Sky Blues boss.

● Millwall have lost each of their last three league games against Coventry City and will be looking to avoid losing four in succession in the Football League for the first time.

● Coventry City have lost just one of their last six away league games against Millwall (W3 D2), scoring 13 goals in total during that time.

● Since a 1-0 defeat at Cardiff at the start of October, Millwall are unbeaten in their last nine league games (W4 D5); they last went 10+ games unbeaten in the Football League between January and April 2018 (17).

● Coventry have conceded two goals in each of their last five league games (D3 L2); the Sky Blues last endured a longer league run of conceding 2+ goals in November 2014 (7).

● Four of Millwall's last five Championship goals have come from set pieces (2x free kick, 1x corner, 1x throw). Excluding penalties only Derby County (11) have more set-piece goals in the Championship this season than Millwall's eight.

Image source, BBC Sport

Image source, Rex Features

Millwall manager Neil Harris has paid tribute to former Lions boss John Docherty, who died this week at the age of 84.

Docherty is the only manager Millwall's history to take them to the top flight of English football, leading a side featuring Tony Cascarino and Teddy Sheringham to the old Division One in 1988.

"What a legend of the football club," Harris told BBC Radio London.

"What he achieved as a manager is something that we have all since tried to emulate.

"We want to be the next one to take Millwall to the promised land."

Docherty was in charge for nearly 200 games across two spells, from 1986 to 1990, and then again in 1997.

"I was really lucky to have met 'The Doc'. What a good guy," Harris added.

"He just oozed class and presence. It is so sad that he has gone, but his memory will live on for a long, long time."

The club will hold a minute's applause and black armbands will be worn in memory of Docherty in their Championship game against Coventry City on Saturday.

Image source, Rex Features

Millwall manager Neil Harris is demanding even more from his squad after extending their unbeaten run to nine matches.

The Lions conceded an 85th minute equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Oxford United on Saturday to record a third successive draw but remain in the top 10 and very much in the play-off conversation.

"The football club and I have to remind ourselves we are nine games unbeaten and how far we've come in a 10-month period," Harris told BBC Radio London.

"But the demand from me to the players is we don't want to settle for what we've done we want to be better all the time."

Millwall are five points short of the top six with back-to-back home games against Coventry City and Sheffield United next up.

"I have to look at the positives and say we played so well for 45 minutes and we got the blend right between being an aggressive Millwall team who can defend in shape but also we had some real excitement to our play and that's what we want to be," added Harris.

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It is one of the most eagerly anticipated dates in the football calendar as Premier League and Championship clubs join the FA Cup action from round three.

The draw will take place on Monday, 2 December from 19:00 GMT and can be watched live on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

Image source, Rex Features

Millwall manager Neil Harris says he can understand everyone's frustration after their Championship match Portsmouth was postponed because of a power failure at Fratton Park.

Millwall are on an eight game unbeaten run but Harris accepts it was an issue out of everyone's hands.

"2,000 Millwall fans have travelled down here and they were hugely respectful and it's frustrating for everyone," Harris told BBC London.

"I hope everyone can understand health and safety comes first but you can't control the weather and you can't control power grids so we just have to accept it and move on.

"I hope fans can use their tickets at the rearranged game but they don't get a refund on their travel so I feel for them and hope everyone gets home safely.

"Portsmouth were very good, as was the match official Dean Whitestone and we had as much information as possible until the security and police have to take the matter out of everyone's hands and make the decision that's in the best interests of the fans."

Millwall are next due to visit Oxford United in the Championship on Saturday, while Pompey travel to Swansea.

Image source, Rex Features

Here's more from Portsmouth chief executive officer Andrew Cullen after their Championship match with Millwall was postponed because of a power cut.

"I can’t speculate at this time but what we can say is that Fratton Park is served by a sub station and it has been identified that one of the fuse boards had blown," he told BBC Radio Solent.

"The problem is that we don’t have any access to that sub station so our maintenance team weren’t able to get into there to try and resolve the situation themselves.

"We need to do a lot more to find out what caused that to happen, both teams were desperate to play the game so I’m really conscious and upset for the supporters from both teams who made the trip.

"It’s not great and I can only apologise to both sets of supports and those who travelled."

Image source, Rex Features

Portsmouth chief executive officer Andrew Cullen says they had no option but to postpone Wednesday's Championship match with Millwall because of a power cut at Fratton Park.

"We got to a point where the floodlights were back on but there was still an issue with non-emergency lighting and CCTV so we had a decision to make in terms of crowd safety," he told BBC Radio Solent.

"There’s more to this than just 22 players on the football pitch. We had a capacity crowd here tonight and we did not have confidence that we could get through a whole game with some lighting not working in the stands.

"Then we got to 8:30 and then we had a further problem which was the last trains going back to London for the Millwall supporters, and they would not have been able to get those back so a decision had to be made.

"I’m incredibly disappointed and I’m upset that we had to call the game off but it was the only logical decision at that time to do in the interests of everyone’s safety."

Image source, Rex Features

The last time Millwall and Portsmouth met in a league fixture 12 years ago, a young striker wrong-footed the Pompey defence on the edge of the area before firing low into the corner to secure a 1-0 win for the Lions.

On loan from Tottenham, Millwall's number 37 would go to become a household name and a national icon as his nine goals in 27 games over the second half of the 2011-12 campaign offered a prelude to his greatness.

He was just 18, but Harry Kane's strike to defeat Pompey combined the skill and precision we have subsequently seen again, and again... and again, for club and country.

The England captain has 69 goals for his country - 16 more than second-placed Wayne Rooney - and scored 280 times for Tottenham before moving to Bayern Munich in 2023.

His goal that day at Fratton Park in April 2012 was the last in the league between Millwall and Pompey, with the south coast side relegated to League One that season, and Kane's contribution - including four goals in the final six games - helping steer the Lions to safety.

Pompey's promotion back to the Championship pits the two teams against each other once again, with Millwall on an eight-game unbeaten run and John Mousinho's side just one point above bottom club QPR.

Millwall won both games 1-0 in the 2011-12 season but have won just two of their last 19 league visits to Portsmouth [D7 L10]. The Lions won 1-0 when the clubs met in the Carabao Cup at Fratton Park in August.

Image source, Rex Features

Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho has been impressed with the performances of Wednesday's opponents Millwall.

Pompey host the Lions at Fratton Park having seen their Championship match at Blackburn postponed on Saturday, further delaying their return to action after the international break.

Millwall are unbeaten in their past eight league matches and have only conceded three goals in that run.

"They're well-organised defensively and well-drilled as a team which is something we'll have to work on to try to unpick that lock," Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent.

"We need to move the ball quickly to put them under pressure but while their defensive record is excellent they've also got a real attacking threat as well."

Portsmouth's last game before the break saw them record their first home victory of the season by beating Preston 3-1 and Mousinho is hoping that is a sign of things to come.

"As a general rule you try to build any success on decent home form and when you pick up home wins it gives you a bit more breathing space away which we haven't had so this is definitely a very important game," he added.

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Femi Azeez's 93rd-minute equaliser against Sunderland on Saturday snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat to ensure Millwall's long unbeaten run continued.

The Lions last tasted defeat on 1 October in Cardiff and have picked up four wins and four draws in the eight games since - including a run of four consecutive 1-0 victories.

Let's recap how Neil Harris' side have climbed the table to within three points of a play-off spot:

West Brom 0-0 Millwall - The Lions got the ball rolling with a hard-fought stalemate at The Hawthorns.

Millwall 1-1 Derby - Summer signing Mihailo Ivanovic's first goal for the club cancelled out Jerry Yates' header for the Rams.

Millwall 1-0 Plymouth - Romain Esse's 13th-minute strike secured Millwall's first win in four matches.

Image source, Getty Images

Swansea 0-1 Millwall - The Lions claimed the ultimate smash-and-grab victory, soaking up Swans pressure before Casper De Norre fired in a 90th-minute winner.

Millwall 1-0 Burnley - Jake Cooper's towering header inflicted the Clarets' first defeat in 10 games in all competitions.

Millwall 1-0 Leeds - Centre-back Japhet Tanganga's first goal of the season secured a fourth win and fourth clean sheet in a row.

Stoke 1-1 Millwall - Potters skipper Ben Gibson nods in after Josh Coburn's opener as Lukas Jensen finally concedes.

Millwall 1-1 Sunderland - And Azeez leaves it very, very, very late!

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Lions boss Neil Harris said his players didn't do the "Millwall basics" in the first half before they fought back to claim a last-gasp 1-1 draw against Sunderland.

Femi Azeez's equaliser deep in added time rescued a point for the hosts at The Den after Aaron Connolly had given the Black Cats the lead in the first half.

"At half-time I let them have it properly, because that's what it deserved," he told BBC Radio London.

"In the first half we didn't play with a Millwall identity or a Millwall intensity - the basics are: you win your duels, you win your headers, you win your races, you win your tackles and you play forward and run forward at the right times.

"Then [in the] second half we did. We played forward and ran forward, we played round, we played through, we played over and we created chances.

"We were a threat on set-plays and that's what a Millwall identity is, and we had it in abundance in the second half."

Millwall finished the match with five attackers as Harris' team pressed for the equaliser and it was Azeez and fellow substitute Aidomo Emakhu who combined for the goal.

On his substitutions, Harris added: "Sometimes just [throwing] caution to wind. When you're behind, sometimes you can do that.

"We were trying to get five players against their back four, trying to overload the midfield area and you just hope that you get a moment of quality and we had that."

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Substitute Femi Azeez’s first Millwall goal rescued a point for the Lions in added time against Sunderland.

The Black Cats led through Aaron Connolly's 10th-minute volley before the players were taken off the pitch for half an hour while medical staff attended two separate emergencies in the crowd.

The Lions were a team transformed after the break and returning Sunderland keeper Anthony Patterson pulled off a string of saves to preserve his side's lead.

But the hosts eventually found the goal their pressure deserved deep into added time as Azeez tapped in from a cross by fellow sub Aidomo Emakhu to extend Millwall's unbeaten run to eight games.

Full match report here.

Image source, Rex Features

Neil Harris says Millwall are extremely confident ahead of the visit of Championship leaders Sunderland to the new-found fortress that is The Den.

After 1-0 wins over Burnley and Leeds in their past two home games, eighth-placed Millwall are seeking a hat-trick by toppling the Black Cats on Saturday (15:00 GMT) which could potentially take them into the top five.

“It’s fair to say we’re extremely confident at the moment,” Harris told BBC Radio London. “We know who we are and where we are at as a football club.

“There’s no over confidence or arrogance in what we do and no ignorance about what faces us on Saturday. It’s a brilliant league, I love the Championship, I always have done. I am so humble to work in it and play against top teams and big clubs."

The Lions have taken 16 points from eight home games this season, having picked up 16 from their final six of last season after Harris returned as boss at the end of February.

"We are loving it," he added. "We know teams fear us, and so they should, at times. We know The Den has been a really tough place to come in the last nine months and we want to continue that.

“We’re also fully aware that for us to be at our best we can’t change what we do, our working standards, our discipline and structure.

"We have to outcompete, outrun and outfight our opponent at every opportunity because that’s who we are."