Superb first-half goals from Conor Chaplin, Massimo Luongo and Nathan Broadhead saw Town to a comfortable 3-1 victory over Millwall at Portman Road and to within a point of Championship leaders Leicester City. Chaplin got the Blues up and running in the fifth minute, Luongo added the second on 12 and Broadhead the third six minutes before the break with Town well worth their half-time lead. In the second period, the Blues continued to dominate without adding to their lead, while the Lions pulled back a consolation against the run of play in the 78th minute through sub Kevin Nisbet.
Town boss Kieran McKenna made three changes from the team which lost 2-0 at West Brom on Saturday with Axel Tuanzebe, Harry Clarke and Luongo coming into the team.
Tuanzebe started at right centre-half with Luke Woolfenden on the bench, Clarke returned at right-back for Brandon Williams, who missed out with a knock, while Luongo came back into his central midfield role with Jack Taylor also among the substitutes.
Omari Hutchinson, who missed the weekend trip to the Hawthorns having been ill, is back on the bench.
For Millwall, Shaun Hutchinson, who skippered, and Aidomo Emahku came into the side for Jake Cooper and George Honeyman, who dropped to the bench. Former Blues keeper Bartosz Bialkowski started for the Lions.
Prior to kick-off at a freezing Portman Road there was a minute’s applause for ex-England, Spurs, QPR and Barcelona manager Terry Venables, who died at the end of last week.
After some scruffy early moments with the pre-match fog becoming thicker, the Blues went in front via the first serious attack of the game in the fifth minute.
Skipper Sam Morsy fed Wes Burns on the right and the Welshman took the ball round the outside of Ryan Longman before lifting a cross into the box. George Hirst nodded down and back to Chaplin, who smashed a shot into the turf and past Millwall keeper Bialkowski to his left.
Chaplin’s seventh goal of the season was Town’s first opening goal in a game since the Bristol City match seven matches and just over a month ago.
And it didn’t take long for the Blues to make it 2-0. In the 12th minute, following some intricate passing on the edge of the box, Burns played the ball into Chaplin’s feet just inside the area and the earlier scorer played it back to Luongo, who took a touch before slamming a shot past Bialkowski to his left with the Polish keeper unmoved. It was the Australian’s second goal of the season.
Town quickly went about looking for a third. On 14, Chaplin sent Burns away on the right and the Wales international crossed for Hirst, who hit a first-time strike which Bialkowski finger-tipped over the bar.
Millwall threatened for the first time in the 19th minute, Brooke Norton-Cuffey bringing the ball forward before hitting a shot which deflected off Broadhead, causing Vaclav Hladky to palm it behind down to his left.
On 23, Longman struck a low effort from the left of the box which Hladky again dealt with confidently. Two minutes later, Luongo was booked for a foul on Emakhu.
However, the Blues were largely still well in control and in the 27th minute went very close to making it 3-0.
Chaplin moved the ball across the field to Burns breaking towards the area and the Welshman took it on before hitting a powerful shot which beat Bialkowski but slammed off the keeper’s left post and away from goal.
Just after the half hour mark, Longman crossed from the left and Tom Bradshaw flicked a heel at the ball but was unable to get any power on his effort and Hladky claimed with comfort.
In the 33rd minute, Chaplin threaded in Morsy on the right of the box and the Egyptian international shot not too far over from a tight angle. Four minutes later, Zian Flemming was yellow-carded for a foul on Luongo.
Town had remained well in charge and their third goal came in the 39th minute. After an attack had broken down and been cleared by Longman, Cameron Burgess brought it forward from the back and fed Leif Davis on the left. The former Leeds man clipped over a cross and Broadhead nodded his seventh goal of the season into the ground and past Bialkowski to the former Blues’ keeper’s right. The goal took Davis’s assist haul for the season to eight.
That was the last action of a half in which the Blues had been in almost total control for most of the half and well worth of their three excellent goals.
The returning Bialkowski couldn’t be blamed for any of them with Town playing their way through the visitors at will at times with Burns unfortunate not to have scored another.
The Lions swapped Emakhu for Honeyman ahead of the second half, while the Blues remained unchanged.
Within a minute of the restart, with the fog now even thicker but still some way off the level of the Oxford game in January, Honeyman got his name in referee Thomas Bramall’s book for clattering Broadhead from behind in front of the dugouts. The incident led to a brief melee between a number of players before order was restored.
Hirst wasn’t too far away from making it 4-0 in the 48th minute when the striker shot only just over from a little way outside the area to the left having been fed by Luongo.
Four minutes later, Broadhead was cautioned for pulling back Honeyman, then on 54 Casper De Norre joined him in the book for a foul on Chaplin on halfway as the Blues broke forward.
Just before the hour, after good work on the right from Burns and Chaplin, Broadhead and Luongo both saw efforts blocked. Soon after, Millwall replaced De Norre and Bradshaw with Billy Mitchell and Nisbet.
Town continued to dominate and on 65 Chaplin struck a well-hit effort from distance which Bialkowski turned over the bar.
In the 69th minute, Town made a quadruple change, Marcus Harness taking over from Broadhead, Kayden Jackson from Burns, Hutchinson from Chaplin and Dane Scarlett replacing Hirst. Millwall swapped Flemming for Ryan Leonard.
Scarlett was the number nine with Hutchinson in the middle behind him, Harness on the left and Jackson on the right.
Having made their changes, the subs went about adding to the goals, Jackson and Hutchinson both involved before Luongo shot just wide to Bialkowski’s left with many in the ground expecting the net to ripple. A subsequent Harness effort from a Davis pass was blocked.
In the 78th minute, via their first attack of the second half, the Lions pulled a goal back. Longman crossed from the left and sub Nisbet hooked past Hladky, who had previously been a spectator.
Bialkowski twice prevented Town from scoring their fourth of the evening in the 88th minute. Harness ghosted his way past his man on the left before cutting inside to Scarlett, who struck a shot on the turn that the keeper saved brilliantly with an outstretched left leg. The loose ball eventually fell to Harness, whose shot was similarly well stopped by Bialkowski down to his right.
In the penultimate scheduled minute, Jack Taylor replaced Luongo and soon after referee Bramall ended proceedings.
Having established their three-goal lead in the first half, the Blues continued to control the game after the break and might have added to their goals with Hirst and Chaplin not too far away.
Millwall’s goal came against the run of play and out of nothing but a Lions comeback never looked like a possibility.
Leicester’s 1-1 draw at Leicester sees the Blues move a point off the Foxes, while Leeds in third and Southampton in fourth also both won with the Whites seven points behind the Blues and the Saints a further point back.
Town’s three goals create a new home league goals total for a calendar year of 66, beating the previous highest of 63 established in 1956 and 1957.
The Blues, who have won 16 of their last 17 at Portman Road in the league, can add to that figure when they host Coventry City at Portman Road on Saturday afternoon.
Town: Hladky, Clarke, Tuanzebe, Burgess, Davis, Morsy (c), Luongo (Taylor 89), Burns (Jackson 69), Chaplin (Hutchinson 69), Broadhead (Harness 69), Hirst (Scarlett 69). Unused: Walton, Woolfenden, Ball, Ladapo.
Millwall: Bialkowski, Wallace, Hutchinson (c), Bradshaw (Nisbet 61), Flemming (Leonard 70), Longman, Norton-Cuffy, Emakhu (Honeyman 46), Saville, De Norre (Mitchell 61), Harding. Unused: Sarkic, Cooper, Campbell, Esse, Adom-Malaki. Referee: Thomas Bramall (Sheffield). Att: 27,702 (Millwall: 1,267).