Millwall 2 Birmingham 0 – Ryan Tunnicliffe scores first goal for Lions as Steve Morison return proves crucial

Millwall moved up to 15th in the Championship table after a fourth league victory of the season – all of them at The Den.

Maxime Colin’s own goal in the 47th-minute gave the Lions a breakthrough early in the second-half before Ryan Tunnicliffe scored his first goal for the South Londoners since his summer move.

The Lions were relentless as they ended a two-game sequence without taking a point.

The first-half was full of industry but neither goalkeeper was overworked with efforts on target.

Lee Gregory spun on a Morison knockdown to strike his shot against the pole holding the net up while the Lions skipper produced a left-footed strike which narrowly cleared the crossbar.

O’Brien flicked over the top after Jake Cooper had headed George Saville’s diagonal free-kick into the dangerzone.

Birmingham created less although did have a good chance just before the break. Isaac Vassell burst into the box, sped past a sliding Cooper and fired a low effort just past Jordan Archer’s far post.

Millwall took the lead through a moment of quality from Morison. The wily striker nicked the ball past Michael Morrison and his low cross was turned into his own net by Colin. If the Birmingham right-back had not attempted to clear then Aiden O’Brien had a tap-in.

Archer needed to make a near-post stop to deny Che Adams before Birmingham needed Tomasz Kuszczak to stop them going further behind, producing a one-handed tip over from Morison’s angled hit in the 73rd minute.

It was to be the Lions captain’s last action as he was replaced by Tom Elliott.

The substitute soon had an impact as his run and cut inside saw him unleash a shot which Kuszczak could only push back out to the lurking Tunnicliffe, who kept his composure to find the back of the net.