Middlesbrough 3 Millwall 0 – Disastrous seven-minute spell condemns Lions to defeat on Teesside. 

BY ALEX GRACE

Millwall turned in one of their poorest displays of the season as they were beaten 3-0 by Middlesbrough.

The Lions started in awful fashion and were behind in the 13th minute. Middlesbrough tore Millwall apart with a passing move, ending with Marvin Johnson crossing for Duncan Watmore, who was left free in the middle of the box and slotted home.

It was 2-0 just two minutes later. Marcus Tavernier curled in an effort from outside the box that left Lions stopper Bialkowski with no chance.

The hosts didn’t stop there and they had their third goal on the 20-minute mark. Former Millwall midfielder George Saville saw his scuffed shot fall straight into the path of former Sunderland man Watmore, who slotted past Bialkowski to seemingly put the game beyond the South Londoners.

Gary Rowett, clearly unhappy with his side’s performance, made a change after just 24 minutes. Alex Pearce was replaced by Jon Dadi Bodvarsson but it didn’t improve their performance as Boro kept their 3-0 scoreline intact at the break.

Matt Smith, Ben Thompson and Tyler Burey were all introduced on the hour mark and it did lead to a small improvement. Two of them almost combined to bring Millwall back into the game – Burey crossed for Smith but he headed wide.

Thompson also saw a header saved by Boro stopper Marcus Bettinelli after 63 minutes.

But that was as good as it got for Millwall, who are now 10 games without a win.