By Lucas Ball at Adams Park
MILLWALL picked up their second away win of the season by winning 2-1 at Adams Park, with goals from Jed Wallace and Ryan Leonard turning around a 1-0 half-time deficit against Gareth Ainsworth’s plucky newly-promoted Wycombe Wanderers.
Scott Kashket gave the hosts an early lead before Wallace equalised from the spot early in the second half.
Leonard netted a superb winner and Millwall had to defend well to hold on for three points.
Match action
Wycombe started the better of the two sides in the first half with their energy and high press causing Millwall all sorts of problems, though Gary Rowett’s men didn’t help themselves by often dwelling on the ball.
The hosts struggled to create chances, but nonetheless the likes of Alex Samuel proved troublesome for Shaun Hutchinson and his defensive unit, though it was Kashket who gave the Chairboys an unexpected lead.
Uncharacteristically, individual errors have cost the Lions in recent weeks with defensive lapses proving costly in the last match against Swansea and Bartosz Bialkowski’s error leading to a goal in this one.
Bialkowski dallied on the ball and Kashket moved in, the goalkeeper losing his footing slightly as he turned, allowing the Wycombe man to nip in and poke the ball home from inside the six-yard box in the ninth minute.
The Polish stopper had a comfortable save to make from range soon after the goal, denying Curtis Thompson, which would have been good for his confidence.
Following that, the Lions began to improve but still struggled to create from open play, with set-pieces providing the catalyst for most of their chances.
The Lions were denied what appeared to be a stonewall penalty when Tom Bradshaw looked set to latch on to Joe Jacobson’s headed back-pass before being pulled down on 22 minutes. The referee waved away appeals to the anger of the visitors.
Millwall continued to press and Jed Wallace’s free-kick was met at the far post by Hutchinson, but he could only head down for former Lions stopper Ryan Allsop to save.
Rowett’s side created a number of half-chances from set-pieces in the rest of the half with Hutchinson and Murray Wallace both getting on the end of crosses from Wallace and Connor Mahoney, with the Scottish full-back hitting the bar minutes before the referee’s half-time whistle.
The second half was much more eventful, with the Lions’ equaliser coming just three minutes after play resumed.
Wallace, so often Millwall’s instigator down the right, was key once again as he latched on to Anthony Stewart’s sliced clearance down the right and crossed for Matt Smith, who was bundled over in the penalty area.
Wallace was given the chance from 12 yards for his third goal of the season, and he made no mistake as he fired the ball past the outstretched Allsop, who – despite guessing the right way – was given no chance.
Bialkowski was back in the action just a couple of minutes later when chaos ensued in the Lions’ penalty area and a number of ricochets fell Wycombe’s way, with the keeper saving well to deny Fred Onyedinma.
The resulting corner went straight into the net from Jacobson but the Lions were on the right side of a decision, with a foul given for a push on Bialkowski despite there seemingly being no player close enough to him to commit a foul.
With the second half continuing in chaotic fashion, Millwall themselves then came close to taking the lead when Smith hit the bar from Mahlon Romeo’s cross.
Right-back Romeo was given licence to attack in the second period and did superbly when Millwall took the lead, finding Smith whose lay-off was inch-perfect for Leonard, who finished well on the half-volley past Allsop.
Millwall twice came close to extending their lead 15 minutes after taking it, through a Smith header which went just wide from a Ryan Woods’ cross, before Jake Cooper’s outrageous effort with a free-kick from the half-way line struck the crossbar.
Allsop managed to break the net in his scramble to get back, resulting in a lengthy delay in play.
Smith could’ve made it 3-1 late on from another brilliant Jed Wallace cross, before Adebayo Akinfenwa snatched at a half-chance with just four minutes remaining on the clock on his injury return.
Disorder at the back once again gave the Chairboys the chance for an equaliser, but the ball just evaded Curtis Thompson.
4-4-2 switch pays off
For the first time in 2020-21, Millwall moved away from the 5-2-3 formation to switch to a 4-4-2 set-up, which worked superbly for them in the second half.
In the first half, the two banks of four stood strong defensively but Rowett’s side struggled to create anything.
Smith and Tom Bradshaw have proved a fruitful combination in this system before though, and that proved true once more in the second half, with their link-up play causing problems for the Chairboys’ defence.
It also meant Romeo could break through the lines with Woods and Leonard sitting deep in midfield, the right-back’s pace allowing him to get in behind.
Two strikers helped the Lions create more chances than they have in any of their games so far this season, with Smith – in particular – providing the focal point for attacks.
It was a switch that saw them score two goals for the first time in the league since the last day of 2019-20 against Huddersfield, resulting in their second away win of the season.
Individual error costs another goal
Millwall have become established as having one of the best defences in the second tier under Rowett, but three simple errors have cost them three goals in their last two matches, uncharacteristically.
It was two defensive lapses against Swansea to allow Steve Cooper’s side to take three points, and today Bialkowski’s error gifted Ainsworth’s team their first goal of the Championship season.
They defended resolutely for the majority of the game but will need to cut out those errors against better sides technically, as much as Wycombe’s physicality and direct style provided a slightly different challenge to the typical Championship front-line.
Connor Mahoney’s place
The wide-man put some good crosses in but his defensive work at times left Murray Wallace isolated, which perhaps explains why he doesn’t start as often as he would like.
With Mason Bennett missing, this was Mahoney’s chance to impress but he didn’t quite do enough, often holding on to the ball for too long and making unnecessary errors.
Bennett wasn’t in the match-day squad so Mahoney will likely have more chances to impress, including against Luton next time out – against whom he was so impressive on New Years’ Day off the bench at The Den.
Mahoney’s style perhaps suits being a super-sub when his role is more of a free one, with less defensive responsibility.
His team-mate on the opposite flank, Jed Wallace, combined defensive responsibility with offensive quality and a man-of-the-match performance, which can provide inspiration for the former Bournemouth man.
Still, Mahoney’s quality is undoubted going forward and he can have a key part for Millwall this season.
Team news
Rowett made three changes from the last match away at Swansea, as well as switching from a 5-2-3 to 4-4-2 formation.
Alex Pearce, Scott Malone and Bennett dropped out of the side, with Murray Wallace, Mahoney and Smith coming in.
4-4-2: Bialkowski; Romeo, Hutchinson, Cooper, M. Wallace; J. Wallace, Leonard, Woods, Mahoney (Ferguson, 90); Smith (Pearce, 90), Bradshaw (Thompson, 82)
Subs: Fielding, Malone, Williams, Bodvarsson
Image: Millwall FC