Michael Carrick’s side have dropped to eighth position in the table, with four more games to play, as a result of their defeat at the Den.
STORY OF THE GAME
Carrick might have defended Kelechi Iheanacho in his pre-match press conference, but the Boro boss dropped the under-fire loanee from his starting line-up, with Morgan Whittaker returning to the starting side.
With Whittaker playing in the ‘number ten’ role behind Tommy Conway, Boro spent most of the first half on the front foot, but were unable to seriously test Millwall goalkeeper Lukas Jensen.
Hayden Hackney dragged a shot wide midway through the opening period, with Delano Burgzorg seeing a shot blocked by a sliding Joe Bryan on the half-hour mark.
Anfernee Dijksteel created Boro’s best opportunity before the break, barging his way into the box to set up Whittaker, who could only prod a tame shot straight at Jensen as he stretched out his foot eight yards out.
Millwall didn’t threaten at all before the break, but the home side were a different proposition at the start of the second period.
Alex Neil’s side thought they should have had a penalty when half-time substitute Macauley Langstaff went down under a challenge from Jonny Howson, but referee Tom Nield waved play on.
Then, a couple of minutes later, George Honeyman swept in a low shot from a corner, but Mark Travers got down superbly to claw the ball away down to his right.
The momentum of the game had swung in Millwall’s favour, and the hosts broke the deadlock in the 65th minute.
Rav van den Berg could only clear a cross from the left to Neghli, and from close to the penalty spot, the Millwall substitute brought the ball under control before firing home.
Boro tried to salvage an equaliser in the closing stages, but Finn Azaz fired over from just outside the area and Jensen was able to keep out a long-range strike from Hayden Hackney.
The Teessiders’ best chance of a leveller came two minutes into stoppage time, but Jensen kept out Marcus Forss’ driven effort from an acute angle.
KEY MOMENT
Alex Neil’s decisive second-half substitutions completely changed the course of the game.
Not only did the Millwall boss bring on Langstaff at the break, with the Stockton-born substitute immediately unsettling the Boro defence as he had a strong penalty claim turned down, he also made a further triple change before the hour mark.
Femi Azeez added some pace and power down Millwall’s left, George Saville helped shore things up in the central area, and Neghli offered an attacking threat that ultimately tilted the game Millwall’s way.
Receiving van den Berg’s clearance just eight minutes after coming onto the field, Neghli drilled a clinical finish past Travers.
Carrick has often been criticised for being too slow to respond with his replacements, and while the game was slipping away from his side long before Millwall scored, the Boro boss only turned to his bench after the deadlock had been broken.
BORO’S BEST
It wasn’t a day when any of Boro’s attacking players really shone, so the star man award goes to Jonny Howson, who was as competitive and reliable as ever at the heart of the back four.
Howson has been superb since returning to the side in central defence, and the 37-year-old impressed again here, snapping into tackles and blocking shots.
Despite playing out of position, he continues to keep Dael Fry out of the side, with Carrick’s decision to stick with Howson having been completely justified by the veteran’s performance levels.
He is not getting any younger, but his influence isn’t diminishing and he has done more than enough in the last few weeks to merit the award of another one-year contract this summer.
TALKING POINT
Is that it for Boro’s play-off hopes? Not quite, but there’s no doubt that today’s defeat has dealt a huge blow to the Teessiders’ hopes of finishing in the top six.
They remain two points away from the play-off positions, but have dropped to eighth position with four games remaining, with West Brom having gone above them on goal difference.
Crucially, sixth-placed Coventry City now have a game in hand on them, and if the Sky Blues win at Hull City on Monday evening, Boro will find themselves four points adrift of the play-off spots with just 12 more points up for grabs. Even with Coventry to play on the final game of the season, that might well prove too big a gap to be able to bridge.
