JOEL PIROE scored twice before Georginio Rutter grabbed a goal of his own as Millwall fell to their first home defeat against Leeds United in over 11 years.
The battling Lions had no answer to Leeds’ counter-attacking prowess as Daniel Farke’s side soaked up the pressure before pouncing with quality repeatedly.
The scoreline ended up being somewhat harsh on Gary Rowett’s side, who controlled the ball for long stretches of the match and played with an intensity that was cheered on by home fans desperate to get one over their old rivals.
But ultimately in this first meeting between Millwall and Leeds in over three years, the quality of the away side showed and endeavour and self-belief from the Lions would not be enough to subdue them.
Both the players and fans were certainly up for it, as evidenced by the wild cheers when Tom Bradshaw won a corner in the opening 10 seconds.
It set the tone for a first 15 minutes that would see the hosts all over their rivals but with no clear cut chances to show for their efforts.
The closest moments came after six minutes when the ball broke to Jake Cooper in the box but his tame shot was charged-down from close range.
Pascal Struijk was also required to clear the ball off the line after Leeds keeper Illan Meslier misjudged a Ryan Longman cross and got distracted by the leaping form of Bradshaw.
The referee blew his whistle for a foul before Struijk’s clearance in any case.
Leeds had hardly weathered the early storm when they flew forward themselves to take the lead.
A brilliant, flowing move orchestrated by Georginio Rutter saw Leeds waltz the ball into Millwall’s box before Joel Piroe poked it into the bottom corner.
But controversy proceeded the moment of art as Millwall fans demanded a penalty when Luke Ayling appeared to have potentially handled it while on the ground in his own box.
This was seconds before goalscorer Piroe seemed to clatter into Kevin Nisbet, with the ex-Swansea striker starting the attack which would lead to his goal 15 seconds later.
Millwall were given neither decision and replays showed Ayling seemed to be in the clear while the clash between Piroe and Nisbet was more subjective.
The Lions needed a few minutes to compose themselves after conceding first in this fixture for the first time since 2015.
But they remained well in the game with Bradshaw chasing down every ball as if his life depended on it.
But clear-cut chances remained beyond them in the first half with their best effort coming after half an hour when the impressive loanee Longman, starting his first game for Millwall, cut in onto his right and forced Meslier to get down low to repel the shot.
With the Millwall players determined, home fans loud and a feeling of injustice hanging in the air, there was still plenty of hope when both teams departed for half time.
And Bradshaw almost pounced within two minutes of the restart, blasting an effort straight at Meslier after he was played in by Casper De Norre.
The heavens would soon open up over The Den as Millwall continued to hustle but struggled to find the quality to break down their ex-Premier League opponents.
Luckily for manager Gary Rowett, there was plenty of quality on his bench as potential game-changers Duncan Watmore, Romain Esse and Zian Flemming, who was dropped for the first time in the league in a year, all came on. They were joined soon after by Aidomo Emakhu.
But the changes would come to nothing as Leeds, who had been managing a frantic atmosphere admirably, struck twice on the break in the space of a few minutes to kill the game.
Substitute Dan James played a one-two to get around Murray Wallace before finding Piroe, who just had to tuck home from a yard out for his second goal of the game in the 77th minute.
Before another rapid counter-attack four minutes later allowed Rutter to claim a well-deserved goal after being heavily involved in the two strikes that came before.
It is now five defeats in six home games in all competitions for Millwall, who will have a chance to put things right on Wednesday when another Yorkshire side, Rotherham United, come to south-east London.
But for now they can only lick their wounds after being punished by an effective Leeds side who only had to show flashes of quality to take the game away from the hosts. All three of their attempts on target ended up in the net.
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Millwall: 3-4-1-2: Bialkowski; Leonard, Cooper (c), Wallace; Norton-Cuffy, Mitchell (Saville 84′), De Norre (Flemming 64′), Longman (Emakhu 73′); Campbell (Esse 64′); Bradshaw, Nisbet (Watmore 64′).
Leeds: 4-2-3-1: Meslier; Ayling (c), Rodon, Struijk, Byram; Gray (Gruev 89′), Ampadu; Summerville (James 70′), Piroe (Kamara 83′), Gnonto (Anthony 70′); Rutter (Gelhardt 89′)
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
Attendance: 17,909