Millwall miss out on second place despite dominant win as last day slips by without drama

Was there to be last day drama is store for the Lions... Picture by @YTJourno

Championship

Millwall (1) 2 Azeez 34, 48

Oxford United (0) 0

Well, it was always going to be a bit of a long shot.

The play-offs it is - with Hull City the team Millwall must now overcome to reach Wembley's Championship play-off final on May 23.

Three minutes is all it took for events in Suffolk to puncture those dreams of automatic promotion - George Hirst netting for Ipswich against QPR at Portman Road to set them on the way to the win they needed to clinch second place behind Coventry City.

When Jaden Philogene made it 2-0 after only nine minutes, the game already looked up.

It felt especially deflating given the incredibly upbeat and vociferous tone at kick-off. Millwall fans ensured their team had a feverish atmosphere to work with. They still hoped.

The Lions had no option but to push on for the win that might take them above those Tractor Boys in the event of an unlikely collapse by their promotion rivals.

Will Lankshear's half-volley over the bar wasn't far off target as an already-relegated Oxford set out to prove they would not be at the Den simply to roll over.

Playing in Reform shade of blue, the visitors' kit will at least have met approval from the Keir Starmer haters in the home crowd - who are always keen to share their antipathy in the form of a derogatory chant aimed at the PM.

The Lions were superior, though. Pressing. Floating crosses into the danger zone and enticing some desperate defending.

They eventually found their way past keeper Jamie Cumming just past the half hour when Mihailo Ivanovic laid off a pass into the path of Femi Azeez and the Millwall winger sidestepped a defender before blasting into the roof of the net.

And there was not much doubt about the Lions fulfilling their part of the bargain when Azeez doubled the lead at the start of the second half - stabbing in at the far post after the U's failed to deal with a cross from the left set up by Barry Bannon's calmness and precision in playing in Thierno Ballo.

There should have been more. Camiel Neghli forced a good save from Cumming after Azeez - who also hit the inside of the post in the first half - laid the ball invitingly across the 18-yard line.

There was an element of going through the motions, however, as the game drifted towards its inevitable conclusion. Oxford were not threatening enough to fashion a comeback against the comfortable Lions.

The only hope was that QPR might find a way back into it to set up a thrilling endgame, but on that front, the needle simply refused the budge. Ipswich, in control from start, never surrendered their grip and added a third goal to spark their celebrations.

Millwall will hope that theirs is still to come under the Wembley arch..

Lions: (4-2-3-1) Patterson - Leonard, Crama, Cooper, Sturge (Doughty 62) - Bannan (Langstaff 81), De Norre (Mitchell 62) - Azeez (Smallbone 73), Neghli, Ballo (Cundle 62) - Ivanovic

U's: (4-2-3-1) Cumming - ter Avest (Long 88), Helik, Brown, Spencer - Konak (Brannagan 16), Vaulks - Mills (Jin-Woo 59), Donley (McDonnell 59), Emakhu - Lankshear (Harris 59)

Attendance: 18,043