MILLWALL’S season descended into chaos as they crashed and burned on Valentine’s Day against Ipswich Town.
A sudden and inexplicable first half collapse saw the Lions concede three times in just over 20 minutes and allow the visitors to run riot at The Den.
This came after an opening 15 minutes when Millwall were in control and looked set to register their customary early goal.
But it never came, Ipswich took the lead through Nathan Broadhead, and a side low on confidence and winless since New Year’s Day completely fell apart.
Wes Harding put the ball into his own net after half an hour before Millwall’s former transfer target Kieffer Moore headed home to give Ipswich a 3-0 half-time lead over the Lions for the second time this season.
It would then be 4-0 in second half stoppage time when Ali Al-Hamadi came off the bench to send home a penalty that he had won.
Tonight’s performance joins that loss at Portman Road, the 4-0 Carabao Cup collapse against Reading and the 3-1 defeat at Norwich City in August as among the worst outings the Lions have put in this season and leaves Lions boss Joe Edwards with questions to answer. Saturday’s match against Sheffield Wednesday is Millwall’s biggest of the season by some margin. There’s no doubt about it now – they are in a relegation battle.
Huddersfield Town beat Sunderland and Stoke City beat Queens Park Rangers elsewhere, leaving Millwall fourth-bottom of the Championship – their lowest position of the season – and four points clear of QPR in the final relegation spot.
They are seven points above Danny Rohl’s Sheffield Wednesday and simply must win on Saturday.
Given Ipswich’s dodgy form of late and the way Millwall traditionally like to ruffle the feathers of better teams at The Den, some fans would have hoped victory was on the cards tonight. And judging by the first 15 minutes, it looked like those supporters might enjoy an evening to remember.
It was Millwall applying all the pressure and Ryan Leonard, back in the line-up after injury, fired an early warning sign after three minutes as he hit a rising shot over the bar.
Vaclav Hladky was then required to deny a looping volley that George Saville hit from just outside the area.
Romain Esse, making back-to-back starts for the first time, then judged a low pass beautifully to release Tom Bradshaw but, one-on-one against Harry Clarke, the Welsh striker could not find a way through.
Ipswich repeatedly played into Millwall’s hands as they gave away countless free-kicks and corners, the last of the sequence seeing Zian Flemming drill a low effort from the edge of the box that Hladky had to gather.
That would be it from the Lions for the first half and virtually the whole game with a seemingly significant moment coming when Omari Hutchinson went down with an issue around a quarter of an hour in and the game was stopped for a few minutes.
Hutchinson would rise back to his feet and so too, it proved, would promotion-chasing Ipswich.
Within minutes of the match restarting, they led the game as an energised Hutchinson cut in onto his left and whipped a cross in that Broadhead flicked home with a glancing header. It all came from a corner that Millwall did not defend seriously or urgently enough.
Having conceded two in four minutes at Coventry, Millwall conceded a second eight minutes after the first tonight. Broadhead got down the left, drove a low ball in and, in an agonising but undoubtedly avoidable moment, Harding stretched out a boot and put the ball into his own net.
It was clear at this moment that the Lions had lost their heads and their confidence. Ipswich, who like Millwall wear bright orange away kits, were proving themselves a cut above without even needing to be at their best.
It could have been 3-0 when Harding lost his footing as the last man and The Tractor Boys raced in before a superb George Honeyman recovery tackle.
But Millwall would go 3-0 down before half-time as Moore nodded home after Wes Burns danced past Murray Wallace and crossed it in.
Wallace, in for the suspended Joe Bryan, struggled in the first half but it would be unfair to pin all the blame on him. The Millwall defence generally looked passive, timid and, frankly, not up for the struggle.
A seemingly pre-prepared playlist of Valentine’s Day songs would be pumped into the stadium at half-time while those watching on TV were treated to former manager Gary Rowett providing the analysis of the disastrous first half from the Sky Sports studio.
With the atmosphere turning toxic, Edwards and the players would have known they could not really afford to concede again at the very least.
They were more competitive and slightly improved in the second half with Flemming hitting a deflected effort wide inside the opening minute after the break.
Bradshaw, starting instead of the ill Michael Obafemi, would fire a couple of tame efforts at Hladky around the hour mark.
But by now most home fans had lost all hope and the second half soundtrack was provided by the sold-out away end, who were buoyant and in good spirits as Ipswich look to put their shaky 2024 form behind them.
Just like the game in November when Millwall went 3-0 down, the Tractor Boys took their foot off the gas and decided to not waste any excess energy during a comfortable midweek win.
The Lions, in turn, never seriously looked like scoring with home fans drifting from their seats and towards the exits the longer the half went on.
Those who left early would have missed Ipswich bringing Al-Mahadi off the bench and winning a penalty off Wallace during what was otherwise a non-event of a second half.
The 21-year-old converted the spot-kick he won to cap a calamitous night for Millwall.
It’s marks their biggest league defeat of the season, the second time they have lost 4-0 at home this campaign and the first time the Lions have lost three league games in a row since August 2022.
So many problems to solve for this side who need instant solutions to rescue themselves.
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Millwall: 3-4-2-1: Sarkic; Leonard, Harding, Cooper (c); McNamara, Saville, Honeyman, Wallace; Esse, Flemming; Bradshaw.
Ipswich: Hladky; Clarke, Woolfenden, Burgess, Davis; Morsy (c), Luongo, Burns, Hutchinson, Broadhead; Moore.
Referee: Sam Barrott
Attendance: 15,890 (2,962)