Millwall 2-1 Portsmouth: All hail Mihailo Ivanovic as Serb seals win

By Matt Wright

MILL WALL 2

Ivanovic 57, 87

PORTSMOUTH 1

Dozzell 80

Alex Neil has heaped praise on the way striker Mihailo Ivanovic has adapted to life in the Championship after he struck another late winner for Millwall against Portsmouth.

Ivanovic is in his first season in English football after signing for the Lions from Vojvodina, in his native Serbia last summer, and the 20-year-old has developed a habit of making the difference when it really matters for Millwall.

His eight league goals this season have earned them 17 points and have given them an outside chance of making the play-offs, as they sit six points behind the top six.

His double at The Den ensured a third win of the campaign in all competitions for the south Londoners over Pompey, who are now just four points clear of the relegation zone.

HEAD FOR HEIGHTS: Millwall’s Mihailo Ivanovic, right, glances the ball in to open the scoring for his side
PICTURES: PSI/Jason Brown

Unbelievable

And delighted Millwall boss Neil said: “Any 20-year-old that leads the line in the Championship and can get nearly [10 goals], and he’ll get double figures before the end of the season.

“If you do that, that’s an unbelievable season, and it won’t be surprising [to] me if people start talking about him.

“I’ve already seen something the other day talking about the top 10 young talents in Europe – he’s one of them.

“He’s 20 years of age, there are very few strikers at that age that will lead the line at this level and also score goals, so he deserves all the plaudits he gets.

“It was a particularly tight game today, and I think physicality was the order of the day, hence the reason why I wasn’t making changes earlier because the players I was bringing on were all smaller.

“I didn’t want to take that risk, but I thought when they did come on, they impacted the game really well.”

FORCE: Portsmouth’s Andre Dozzell bundles into Murray Wallace

Match action

Millwall led after 57 minutes of undistinguished football when George Honeyman’s corner was glanced in at the near post by Ivanovic.

The onus was now on Portsmouth to attack, and they forced keeper Lukas Jensen into action within five minutes of falling behind when Matt Richie’s low shot from outside the area was held by the Lions stopper.

Then came a clearer chance for Ritchie as a scramble in the Millwall box led to the ball falling to the Pompey captain, only for his shot to hit the outside of a post.

The visitors’ improvement in the final third brought its reward with 10 minutes remaining as Josh Murphy’s shot was brilliantly blocked by Jake Cooper before Andre Dozzell was able to squeeze his follow-up past the defenders on the line.

However, there was time for another twist as Millwall snatched the points in the 87th minute when Casper De Norre put in a peach of a cross that Ivanovic gleefully headed into the bottom corner.

Macaulay Langstaff almost added a third for the Lions in stoppage time when his effort was diverted behind by Portsmouth goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid.

Star Man – Mihailo Ivanovic (Millwall)