After brushing away fellow playoff hopefuls Hull City 3-1 away from home at the weekend, Millwall find themselves in a position to push for the automatic promotion spots heading into the final ten games.
With four wins in their last five games and just two defeats since Boxing Day in the Championship, Alex Neil’s side find themselves in third – four points off second place Middlesborough after their 0-4 win at QPR.
This has left them piling on the pressure with nothing to lose as we approach the end of the season, just in case Middlesborough slip up again.
Ultimately, Millwall’s destiny for the remainder of the season is almost in their own hands based on their fixtures left with some huge games left to play as they continue their battle.
Millwall could have been sat in an even prettier position had they not been so inconsistent during the season at home.
0-3 defeat to Middlesborough, 0-2 defeat to Wrexham, 0-4 defeat to Coventry, 1-3 defeat to Hull and a 1-3 defeat to Portsmouth.
If The Lions weren’t as unreliable as they had been and got even two wins from these five games, they would find themselves in second place – however they have managed to get several close wins despite this.
Millwall made some smart signings in the January transfer window to help bolster their playoff push with players such as Barry Bannan from Sheffield Wednesday.
Alex Neil also bought in Tommy Watson from Brighton who scored the winning goal or Sunderland in the playoff final last season and Anthony Patterson from Sunderland – both on loan.
Patterson has started four games and has kept two clean sheets which has helped tighten the defence for the promotion-hopefuls however Watson hasn’t yet made the impact they would have hoped.
These signings on top of their already strong squad of players leaves them in a very strong position ahead of the final ten games to continue their battle for automatic promotion.
Millwall’s next five games will define how the rest of the season goes from here starting with two huge home games against Derby on Tuesday night and bogey side Blackburn on Saturday.
Then their focus will turn to two season defining games in the promotion race as they travel to Ipswich for an early kick-off before the international break and travel to Middlesborough on Good Friday. These two games will define what happens in the final weeks.
They then host an in-form Norwich side on Easter Monday in their final game in a tough run of fixtures which could see them move up or down in the next five games.
