Jake Cooper struck against Sheffield United yet again as in-form Millwall recorded a 1-0 victory against the play-off-chasing Blades at The Den.
Lions centre-back Cooper has scored five goals in his last seven games against United, and his second-half header was enough to give his side their fourth straight win.
It lifted them to within five points of the top six, in which the Blades have been replaced by Luton, following just their second defeat in 16 games in the Championship.
Sheffield United gave a league debut to 19-year-old defender Kyron Gordon, who was up against a lively youngster in Millwall’s Tyler Burey.
Not for the first time this season, the Lions were disrupted by one of their players suffering an injury, with Mason Bennett having to be replaced by George Evans after just 15 minutes.
It was a scrappy start to the game as a whole, with neither goal coming under real threat and the defences having what little they had to do with minimum fuss.
Jed Wallace put in a dangerous free-kick from the left after 29 minutes that just needed a touch as it drifted past the Millwall attackers and frustratingly wide.
It took until the 35th minute for either goalkeeper to be forced into action and that was a comfortable save for Bartosz Bialkowski, as he held onto John Egan’s header.
Cooper then flicked a header from another Wallace set-piece over, as a turgid first half came to an end.
Jack Robinson almost got lucky five minutes after the restart when his mishit cross from the left needed helping over the bar by Bialkowski.
Sheffield United keeper Wes Foderingham was almost left red-faced soon after when he fumbled Shaun Hutchinson’s effort, but Scott Malone could not squeeze in the rebound.
But it was the Blades’ nemesis who put them behind just after the hour mark when Cooper found himself unmarked to head in Wallace’s chipped free-kick at the back post.
The visitors tried to hit back quickly, with Oliver Norwood’s attempted chip from the edge of the area drifting harmlessly over the top.
It was the first time in the game that the Blades were putting on any concerted pressure inside the Millwall half, but no clear-cut opportunities were coming their way.
The Lions ultimately held out and, following a quiet first half of the campaign, they now have an outside bet of gatecrashing the play-offs in the months that remain.
