Crawley Town 1 Millwall 3 – Malone on target on Lions return as South Londoners ease into second round of EFL Cup

Millwall booked their place in the second round of the EFL Cup with a 3-1 victory at Crawley Town.

The Lions handed a first competitive start to Scott Malone since his return to the club on loan from Derby County and the left wing-back put them ahead in West Sussex.

Ryan Woods swung in an inviting cross and it was tucked home on the charge by Millwall’s number 14.

It was 2-0 just past the half-hour mark. Connor Mahoney’s deep corner was headed back across by Jake Cooper and Jordan Tunnicliffe could only tap into his own net from virtually on the goal-line.

But the League Two hosts almost instantly reduced the deficit after new signing Sam Ashford finished smartly across Bart Bialkowski.

The Lions laboured for the remainder of the period but Jed Wallace, introduced at the start of the second half for Mason Bennett, predictably gave them some more zip.

The substitute got the assist for Millwall’s third. A short corner led to Wallace picking out Matt Smith, who headed in from close range.

Smith had chances to add to his haul as the Crawley keeper denied him from Ryan Leonard’s cross and he was inches away from being on the end of Wallace’s cross.