Josh Coburn scored twice against his old club as Millwall recorded a 2-1 Sky Bet Championship victory over promotion rivals Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.
An energetic first half for the hosts saw captain Dale Fry take the lead with a header, but former Boro striker Coburn scored twice in the second half to spearhead the Lions’ comeback.
The three points mean Millwall have leapfrogged Middlesbrough in the table and moved into automatic promotion, with the Teessiders falling into the play-offs.
Callum Britten’s low pass raced through the area to find Tommy Conway, his shot was deflected by Tristan Krama and Alan Brown nodded in from the ensuing corner. The host team got off to a lively start.
A clearance was received by Luke Ayling and the defender chipped the ball at close range to Fry, who volleyed it over.
Casper de Norre’s long-range effort was deflected away by Sol Bryn, but Middlesbrough remained in control and Britten’s deep free-kick was headed in by Adilson Maranda.
Camiel Negri’s shot was blocked and Anthony Patterson cleared Britten’s ball into the box on the Boro break.
Boro’s bright start was rewarded in the 26th minute when Brown lofted a cross towards the back post and headed a free fly into the bottom corner.
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Josh Coburn threatens to equalize for Millwall against his former club Middlesbrough.
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Josh Coburn scores second goal as Millwall take lead against Middlesbrough
Riley McGree threatened twice, the first shot being blocked and the second.
With the visitors looking for an equaliser, Mihajlo Ivanovic’s shot narrowly missed the post, but David Strelet was central to Boro’s extra point.
The hosts were again denied when a corner kick was taken and the ball rattled around in the box, but Frye’s shot was neatly parried away by Femi Azeez just in front of the goal line.
Patterson was brought on early in the second half to thwart Matt Targett’s powerful shot from Strelets’ pass, and Millwall suddenly became a threat when Bryn pushed away Krama’s deflected shot.
The Lions’ pressure increased and Ivanovic converted a corner kick to Coburn, whose volley from the six-yard area hit Bullin for an equalizer, but the goalkeeper was unable to stop the ball from crossing the line in the 58th minute.
Chances abounded for both teams, with Bullin springing into action to thwart Azeez’s threatening attack, denying Zac Sturge’s header from a corner kick, while at the other end Patterson tipped Britten’s free-kick over the crossbar.
Conway made a stunning run from his own half but was denied by Billy Mitchell and Boro looked close to goal again when Aidan Morris’ shot was blocked.
Coburn had the final say in the 86th minute, reacting to Barry Bannan’s pass and calmly slotting a shot into the bottom corner.
Boro looked to grab an equalizer in the closing stages with a series of crosses flying into the box, but Millwall held on.
managers
Kim Helberg of Middlesbrough:
“Soccer is about scoring goals and we didn’t do enough to win the game.
“It’s also a question of what to do – should you stop playing good football, stop creating chances? It’s about what can you do?”
“It’s very doubtful to get three points when you concede two goals, but we couldn’t do that today.
“Of course it’s a concern. We’re working on it every day. It doesn’t help that we don’t have all the players who scored so many goals for us.
“It’s a concern, definitely. We have to fight it and get through it. That’s what we’re trying to do. That’s why energy is going to be important.”
“We’ll go back to the game tomorrow. I’m very proud of the players and the supporters. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s me.”
Alex Neil of Millwall:
“We’ll see how big of a win this is over the next six games, but at the moment it feels like a big win.
“They’re a really good team, really well-coached. We couldn’t hang out with them in the first half.
“We talked about it at halftime. We needed to press a little bit better. We needed to be able to keep the ball in front of us a little more. That was our biggest problem when we had the ball. We kept giving the ball back to them.
“In the second half, we started to move the ball better and the pace of the game slowed down. Then our goal changed our belief.
“The script for Cobain coming back to his old team was impossible.”
