Millwall vs Huddersfield Town. Sky Bet Championship.
The Den.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at The Den
Saturday 31 October 2020 18:41, UK
Pipa struck his first goal for Huddersfield as they picked up a deserved 3-0 win at Millwall, whose Covid-19 tribulations seemed to finally catch up with them.
The Lions' entire first-team coaching staff are self-isolating following positive tests for manager Gary Rowett and two other staff members and they will have watched, from afar, their team's first home defeat of the season.
It was the perfect way for Carlos Corberan's side to bounce back after back-to-back defeats and a late flurry gave the scoreline a better reflection of the 90 minutes.
In what was a tight opening, Huddersfield's Isaac Mbenza came up with the game's first threatening shot when he forced Bartosz Bialkowski into a save from the edge of the area.
Buoyed by this, the Terriers went ahead after 18 minutes when Alex Pritchard's ball picked out Adama Diakhaby on the right and his cut-back was guided in, with the aid of a slight deflection, by Josh Koroma.
It rewarded what was a good spell from the visitors, whose pressing game was preventing Millwall from getting into their stride and creating anything of note.
The only negative for Huddersfield was that they were not able to really press home their advantage while on top as several promising attacks came to nothing.
That almost cost them just before half-time, as the Lions created their first real chance when Scott Malone's cut-back found Connor Mahoney and his effort was pushed away by goalkeeper Ben Hamer.
Having been blunted in the first half, Millwall sent on towering striker Matt Smith after the restart and they started to enjoy more possession with Jed Wallace sending a long-range strike over.
Huddersfield were able to provide a threat on the counter, however, with Mbenza placing an effort from the edge of the area wide after a driving run from midfielder Lewis O'Brien.
Diakhaby then shot just off target from slightly further out with just over an hour played as the visitors began to reassert some control.
Chances continued to come for the Terriers to make the game safe, with Koroma this time being denied by Bialkowski after he had wriggled his way into some space.
Another opportunity on the break then came and went for them, as substitute Pipa shot over from 25 yards following more good work from O'Brien.
But the result was finally secured in the 89th minute when Pipa cut inside from the left before Bialkowski parried his strike straight up into the air before the ball dropped over the line.
There was still time for the visitors to add a third in stoppage time as O'Brien grabbed the goal his performance deserved by sweeping home after being teed up by Juninho Bacuna.
Millwall captain Alex Pearce: "We're bitterly disappointed. I felt that we started the game very slowly, the first 15 minutes especially. We didn't come out of the blocks at all, totally the opposite to Wednesday night, to be honest. We didn't move the ball, they scored a good goal, but then we came into the game and we actually got a foothold in it.
"I was pleased with the way we were playing towards the end of the first half, just moving it with more intensity, the way we were pressing, the way we were passing the ball and more on the front foot. I was pleased with the way that we responded to the goal and I thought we had a go in the second half, without causing them any real difficulty at the back. That's the other disappointing thing from today; that it was our end product where we let ourselves down."
Huddersfield's Carlos Corberan: "I think sometimes when you get the good result, you are thinking it is one of the best performances, but for me the second half the other day was brilliant, against Birmingham. There was also the second half against Rotherham where we also did really well, but today was a very positive performance - it was one against a very strong team that is very tough.
"For me, the thing that made me especially proud of the players was the personality that they had today, the personality in the way they played in the second half. The second half was a clear improvement of the team because we played with a little bit more personality."
