Mihailo Ivanovic struck another late winner as Millwall defeated Portsmouth 2-1 at The Den to move into the top half of the Sky Bet Championship.
The Serbian striker’s header with three minutes to go was his second of the afternoon and the second Lions home game running in which he has proved the difference-maker in the closing stages.
His latest intervention moved Millwall up to ninth in the table, six points off the play-offs, while Pompey continue to look nervously over their shoulder as they saw the gap between them and the relegation zone close to four points.
Millwall tried to catch their opponents out with a clever corner routine in the fifth minute that saw George Honeyman pick out George Saville on the edge of the area, but the latter could not get his volley on target.
It was a rare moment of invention in an opening to the game that saw the Lions control things without having a clear chance to break the deadlock.
The fact Portsmouth were willing to sit back against one of the lowest scorers in the division meant the first half was not much of a spectacle, but out of nowhere came a big opportunity for the visitors.
A miscued clearance by Millwall captain Jake Cooper in the 38th minute fell for Colby Bishop just inside the box and his low shot needed to be pushed away by Lukas Jensen.
The hosts then suffered the blow of losing centre-back Japhet Tanganga to a wrist injury as a disappointing first 45 minutes unsurprisingly ended goalless.
The breakthrough the game needed came after 57 minutes when Honeyman’s corner was glanced in at the near post by Millwall’s top scorer, Ivanovic, to put the hosts ahead.
The onus was now on Portsmouth to attack, and they forced Jensen into action within five minutes of falling behind when Matt Ritchie’s low shot from outside the area was held by the Lions goalkeeper.
Then came a clearer chance for Ritchie as a scramble in the Millwall box led to the ball falling to the Pompey captain, only for his shot to hit the outside of the post.
The visitors’ improvement in the final third brought its reward with 10 minutes remaining as Josh Murphy’s shot was brilliantly blocked by Cooper before Andre Dozzell was able to squeeze his follow-up past the defenders on the line.
However, there was time for another twist as Millwall snatched the points in the 87th minute when Casper De Norre put in a cross that Ivanovic gleefully headed into the bottom corner.
Macaulay Langstaff almost added a third for the Lions in added time when his effort was diverted behind by Portsmouth goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid.
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