By Jr
January 15 2005

Darren Ward’s return to first team duty may have not resulted in a clean sheet, but nonetheless it was back to winning ways for Millwall as they triumphed 2-1 at Nottingham Forest. The centre back’s presence may have shored up the defence, but the attack was also spruced up by the talismanic figure of Danny Dichio upfront - who returned to the side following suspension.

Dichio rarely finishes on the losing side while playing for Millwall, but it was Barry Hayles who was more instrumental in engineering the downfall of Forest.

Hayles has been a resounding success since joining the Lions, and the striker latched on to a Mark Phillips pass to slide in his eighth goal of the season and put the Lions in front.

Millwall’s top scorer turned provider 8 minutes before the interval, setting up Alan Dunne - who chipped over stranded Forest goalkeeper Paul Gerrard to give the Lions a two-goal cushion.

Four minutes from time, Forest reduced the deficit when Kris Commons met Marlon King's cross with a looping header which found its way into the top corner.

In injury time, the hosts were denied a last-gasp point when Lions keeper Graham Stack spectacularly turned a Commons effort over the bar.

The victory took Millwall back into the play-off zone and, after the match, assistant boss Ray Wilkins said: "The challenge is there for us to stay there.

"When you look at the table, the top two places look to be sewn up.

“But with our squad, we feel we are capable of finishing in the top six - and that's our aim.

"We had to work really hard for the win against Forest.

“[Forest’s new boss] Gary Megson obviously put a few fleas in a few ears.

"In the end we had to thank Graham Stack for a late save to win us all three points."

Megson felt his side had been unlucky: “"We built up a lot of pressure, had a lot of chances - and on another day might easily have won the game.

“But you have to give Millwall some credit for the way they stood up to it.”

With former Lions legend Neil Harris on the bench for most of the game, at least Millwall didn’t have to worry about “the curse of the ex”.

But with Forest forwards Gareth Taylor, Marlon King and David Johnson scoring over 20 goals between them so far this season, the Lions knew they would have to be at their defensive best.

Speaking to the official website, Millwall player boss Dennis Wise paid tribute to his side’s resilience: “This was always going to be a difficult game with Forest desperate for points and having just appointed a new manager.

“But we did well in the first half and had a comfortable lead at the break.

“That almost turned out to be a problem for us because we seemed to feel that we had done enough and spent most of the second half on the back foot.

“We started to make silly mistakes and give the ball away which brought extra pressure on ourselves.

“However, I’m very pleased with the result.

“Several of the top teams have to come to Forest and will find life just as difficult as we did.

“It was important to have five players back and I’m hopeful that Paul Ifill will also be back before too long because he’s an important player for us.”

As well as Ward, David Livermore and Scott Dobie were back after injury and like Dichio, skipper Kevin Muscat was returning from suspension.

Adrian Serioux was back on the bench and made a cameo appearance, after returning from Canada - where he was away on compassionate leave.

Now Millwall have the chance to get revenge for their early FA Cup exit, as their conquerors Wolves visit the Den on Saturday (kick off 3pm).