Saints beaten by Millwall to lose pace in promotion race

Saints beaten by Millwall to lose pace in promotion race

Japhet Tanganga and Zian Flemming gave Neil Harris the perfect start to his fourth spell at Millwall as they upset Southampton 2-1 at St Mary’s.

Harris returned to the Den for his second stint as manager, having become the club’s all-time leading goalscorer over two spells as a player, this week after Joe Edwards had been sacked.

And he began this tenure by stunting a run of just one point in seven games after Tanganga’s header and Flemming’s penalty kept the Lions out the relegation zone.

Southampton have now lost three of their last four matches to lose touching distance in the automatic promotion race – all seven of their league defeats this season have come in either September or February.

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Harris’ newest era at the club began in perfect style. He had already received a homecoming reaction from the loud away fans, before celebrating an opener inside five minutes.

George Saville floated a tantalising free-kick into the heart of the penalty box, where Tanganga had freed himself from his marker to bravely head in before getting a blow in the back from goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu.

It was the Tottenham loanee centre-back’s first professional goal.

The goal was accompanied by a chant of “Super Neil Harris” as Millwall fans made it clear they supported their fourth boss of the campaign.

Southampton dominated possession and started to create chances. Tanganga continued his impressive streak by leaping back onto his own goal-line to thwart an Adams header, while David Brooks curled wide.

Adams converted a header in the 34th minute to level the game, the striker glancing Stuart Armstrong’s perfectly-weighted cross in for his 11th goal of the season.

Brooks had an effort cleared off the line, by Shaun Cooper, before the Lions regained the lead two minutes before the break when former Southampton striker Michael Obafemi’s shot cannoned into Jan Bednarek’s arm.

Dutchman Flemming converted the penalty, via the post, for his seventh goal of the season.

It meant Saints had conceded two goals for the third successive home match.

Southampton reorganised at the break and produced three chances within the first four minutes of the restart.

Kyle Walker-Peters and Stuart Armstrong tried their luck from outside the box, but fired over, before Adams flicked over from close range.

Joe Rothwell came off the bench and should have equalised when he met a loose ball on the penalty spot, but he tamely skidded a shot straight at goalkeeper Matija Sarkic.

Sarkic was finally forced into a difficult save in the 89th minute when he swooped low to keep out Adam Armstrong’s header.

However, Millwall held on to provide Harris with the perfect start and give the manager a double over Southampton – having beaten them in the Carabao Cup when he was Gillingham boss in August.

The managers

Southampton’s Russell Martin:

“We’ll be fine [in the promotion race]. We’ve got eight weeks left of the season and still have the chance to be incredibly exciting and get rewarded but like we did before we have to stand up and be counted now.

“We will work hard to find a way through and make sure this run doesn’t last too long. We had three massive chances and should score. It’s not normal to create that many big chances against a team in a low block.

“We should score but don’t. It’s nothing to do with tactics. If people want to talk about all that stuff, it’s not that. We conceded two rubbish goals.

“How we don’t deal with the free-kick, I don’t know. Maybe there is an offside, I haven’t seen it but the feeling from the analysts is that there is. It’s a floated cross and it loops into our goal.

“For the second goal, we don’t clear it twice and it ends up across our box for a penalty. That is the story of the game, nothing else – not tactics.”

Millwall’s Neil Harris:

“Thank you to the fan-base, not just for my welcome that they gave me on the touchline but also for supporting my players like that.

“That’s what we need between now and the end of the season. The fans needed that performance and that result – in unison that is a great result for this club. Millwall teams always have to find a way, they’ve always had to find a way.

“Some of the performances were some of the best performances of the season for some individuals. You don’t have to be the best player in the pitch to be appreciated by the fans at the Den. You have to epitomise what a Millwall fan would do if they were on the pitch.

“That was me, I was never the best player on the pitch but I always worked harder than everyone else on it. That’s the message I have put in and then build a way around the ball with that. When the chips are down it is about heart, and we had that in abundance today.”