Millwall 3 Ipswich 0 – Lee Gregory scores twice and first Lions goal for Leonard in a stroll for South Londoners
BY RICHARD CAWLEY
Lee Gregory took his Millwall goal haul to 71 with a double in a comfortable 3-0 victory over Ipswich Town.
Club record signing Ryan Leonard got off the mark for the Lions in a one-sided contest which rarely saw them in anything other than total control.
New Ipswich Town manager Paul Lambert watched from the stands as Bryan Klug took caretaker charge – and it only underlined the huge task ahead for the Scot with the visitors bottom of the Championship standings.
Millwall secured a third successive Den win on the bounce and are four points clear of the bottom three.
Photograph by Keith Gillard
Leonard connected well with a half-volley shortly just before the deadlock was broken but the ball flew wide of the left upright.
Ipswich’s vulnerability from set-pieces has been one of the factors behind their struggles this season – and so it was no surprise Millwall’s 26th minute opener came from a corner.
Shaun Williams produced a trademark deep delivery for Jake Cooper and his header back into the centre of the goal was controlled on the chest by Gregory before slamming in from close range past Bartosz Bialkowski.
The Lions had chances to extend their lead in the remainder of the half.
Jiri Skalak’s free-kick was turned back across the face of goal by Shaun Hutchinson but just evaded Cooper.
Photograph by Keith Gillard
Photograph by Keith Gillard
Bialkowski was lucky that Tom Elliott’s header from a Shane Ferguson free-kick was straight at him, otherwise Millwall would have a two-goal cushion by the interval.
The hosts’ chances nearly all arrived via deadball situations. Hutchinson got a free header after six minutes but could not keep it down from a Williams corner.
Ryan Leonard was very close to getting on the end of a lovely Skalak cross from the right.
Ipswich, by contrast, produced nothing of note in the opening 45 minutes.
Millwall v Ipswich Town, Sky Bet Championship, The New Den, 27 October 2018.
Photograph by Keith Gillard
And what already looked a forlorn task took a turn for the worse soon after the restart. Cooper flicked on a Ryan Leonard throw and the in-form Gregory confidently clipped it in from close range.
Leonard opened his goal account for the Lions with 20 minutes to go. Bialkowski punched a cross from the left by Murray Wallace and the club record signing lofted the ball into the net from 20 yards out.
It took until the 88th minute for Ipswich to finally produce a scare for the hosts, Trevor Chalobah smashing an angled drive from the right of the penalty box against the upright.
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