Millwall vs West Bromwich Albion. Sky Bet Championship.
The DenAttendance13,818.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at The Den
Monday 10 February 2020 10:01, UK
West Brom extended their lead at the top of the Sky Bet Championship with a hard-fought 2-0 win at Millwall on Sunday.
The Baggies had the opportunity at The Den to extend their lead to four points over Leeds and Fulham, and Filip Krovinovic's goal just before the break set them on their way to do just that. - despite having to battle the conditions of Storm Ciara in south east London.
It is back-to-back victories for West Brom now, having previously suffered an alarming dip in form that saw them fail to win seven. It seems that Slaven Bilic's side are back on track, and their win was wrapped up by Dara O'Shea late on.
For Millwall, however, it was just a third home defeat of the season and it meant they failed to close the gap on the top six. They remain 10th in the table, five points off the play-off places.
Both sides had good chances in the first half. Jed Wallace fired over for Millwall at one end when he should have done better, while Kyle Bartley also missed the target from close range at the other.
Eventually, it was West Brom who broke the deadlock through Krovinovic after 42 minutes. One fine touch opened up space just over 20 yards from goal, and a second saw him curl the ball past the helpless Bartosz Bialkowski and into the bottom corner.
West Brom continued to threaten after the break. Hal Robson-Kanu went close on 48 minutes as he saw an effort deflected just over from close range, while shortly afterwards Callum Robinson fired just wide and then Matheus Pereira forced Bialkowski into a decent save.
Eventually, though, they would wrap up the win after 84 minutes as O'Shea got across his man from a corner and nodded in from the near post. His first goal for the club capping an important result in their quest for promotion.
Millwall's Gary Rowett: "We usually start games with so much tempo, but we started really tentatively. We started the game like it was a nice summer day, while West Brom came here with the right mentality.
"I'm disappointed with the way we passed the ball, and we didn't do the basics well enough."
West Brom's Slaven Bilic: "It's not only about the result. That matters but the performance was terrific. From the start we battered them in a physical way, then from the second balls we had the flair, skill, technique and combinations.
"We were brilliant in a physical way and that's why I'm extremely pleased with our team. This has to be a minimum for us and you have to be on it. We were from minute one to minute 90."
Just a second goal for West Brom, but an influential display nonetheless. In difficult conditions at The Den he rose to the occasion and was consistently their most attacking threat - also netting an impressive opener to set them on their way.
Both sides are back in action on Sky Sports on Wednesday night. Millwall host Fulham for a 7.45pm kick-off on Sky Sports Football, while West Brom travel to Reading for an 8pm kick-off that is live on the Sky Sports Football Red Button and Sky Sports app.
