By Alex Grace at The Den for NewsAtDen
BENIK Afobe’s third goal of the season sealed back-to-back home wins for Millwall and pushed them closer to the top six as they beat Reading 1-0 at The Den on Tuesday night.
Afobe was there to tap in Ryan Leonard’s cross with 19 minutes left as the Lions made their second-half pressure count against the Royals.
Match details
Jed Wallace had the game’s first effort on target, a free-kick from around 30 yards out which forced a good save from Reading goalkeeper Luke Southwood. A couple of minutes later, Wallace’s cut-back found Afobe on the edge of the box but he blazed his effort over the bar.
It took Reading until the 18th minute to register their first effort, a curling shot from John Swift which safely cleared the crossbar.
Afobe latched on to a Wallace through-ball and went into the Reading box but his effort was kept out by Southwood.
With half-time approaching both sides had chances. Leonard almost gave away a penalty as he clashed with Ovie Ejaria. At the other end, Matt Smith nearly got on the end of a Wallace cross and Billy Mitchell tried his luck from distance but failed to hit the target – sending his effort wide of the near post.
Ejaria was proving to be the main threat for the visitors, his shot creeping past the far post in the final action before the break.
Gary Rowett made two changes at half-time, sending on Mason Bennett and Scott Malone for Smith and Maikel Kieftenbeld – with the Lions reverting to a five-man defence for the second period.
Malone offered a threat going forward and he was thwarted by Southwood before George Saville’s deflected effort was claimed by the Reading stopper.
The Lions were showing lots of attacking intent. Southwood was again there to stop Bennett’s effort before Malone sent a blistering drive over the bar.
The pressure finally paid off in the 71st minute. It was a simple yet satisfying goal. Leonard’s cross found Afobe all alone in the six-yard box and he had the simplest of tasks to tap home the opening goal.
Leonard went close twice more, sending two efforts over the bar. Meanwhile, Swift wasted a glorious chance for an equaliser, blazing over the bar from inside the box with no one around him.
Takeaways
Back-to-back home wins as the play-off gap disappears
Winning at The Den has been a tough thing for Millwall to do in recent times but it’s now consecutive league wins in SE16 for Rowett’s men for the first time this season.
We know how solid the Lions are away but that has to be backed up with wins and performances in front of their own fans. This was the perfect response to the Huddersfield defeat.
Getting wins at home will go a long way to keeping the fans onside when the football is not great to watch. Despite the grumblings the Lions are only outside the top six on goal difference.
Rowett starts with a back four – but only for 45 minutes
It’s something that the fans had been calling for, a back four from the start at home. In the early stages it worked. The home side started the better and created a few openings but still found it tough to create anything really clear-cut.
Wallace’s early free-kick was the only effort on target in the opening 45 minutes.
It sparked a change at half-time with the Lions boss bringing on both Malone and Bennett and returning to a 5-2-3 formation for the second half.
It was a good switch as the hosts were much improved after the break. A laboured first half was followed up by an attacking second half.
The introduction of Malone was key and gave the home side much more of a threat from wide positions.
Bennett also got into the action, making a nuisance of himself and causing the Reading back three the problems that Smith couldn’t in the first half.
A big goal for Afobe
It’s the first time the on-loan Stoke man has found the net since the 3-1 defeat at Cardiff way back in August.
He was brought in to help the Lions score on a more regular basis but that hadn’t really happened.
He is very much a confidence player. He needs to be confident to score goals. He certainly gave it his all again tonight, but the question remains do the Lions need another striker in January?
Only 16 goals in 16 games would suggest yes.
Team news
Rowett made four changes to the side that lost to the Terriers. Murray Wallace, Kieftenbeld, Smith and Afobe replaced Daniel Ballard, Malone, Tom Bradshaw and Sheyi Ojo.
Millwall: 4-3-3: Bialkowski; Leonard, Hutchinson, Cooper, M Wallace; Saville, Kieftenbeld (Malone 45), Mitchell; J Wallace, Smith (Bennett 45), Afobe (McNamara 86).
Subs not used: Long, Pearce, Ojo, Bradshaw
Booked: Kieftenbeld 31 Leonard 88
Image: Millwall FC