Wise soon back in action as Millwall find away swing

Coventry City 2 Millwall 3

A few big shocks have hit the West Midlands recently, starting with the earthquake a week ago and the heavyweight golf collision currently going on over at The Belfry between Europe and the United States.

Where Dennis Wise's reintroduction to English football after an eight-month break fits in is unclear, but the hot-headed midfielder certainly had an impact on his Millwall debut here in Coventry.

His contribution extended beyond his early yellow card, although the Lions' victory was ultimately down to Neil Harris, who was allowed to turn and shoot from David Livermore's pass five minutes from the end.

Whether his apologists or his opponents, Wise's watchers were not disappointed. Given his debut by the Millwall manager, Mark McGhee, only four days after signing on a free transfer, he was cautioned just two minutes and 20 seconds into play for a foul on Coventry's player-manager, Gary McAllister.

Wise had become available after his protracted sacking by Leicester City. The former England international, now 35, had punched his Leicester team-mate Callum Davidson on a pre-season tour of Finland. Although he appealed against his suspension, his sacking was upheld.

That did not deter McGhee from adding the experienced former Chelsea man to his squad.McGhee's assistant, Steve Gritt, acknowledged: "Dennis was very tired at the end. Still, it was very important he lasted all 90 minutes and all the better for us. As for his booking, I felt it was harsh."

One of Millwall's problems this season, prior to this game at least, has also been a poor cutting edge in attack. It looked as if that failing would haunt them again when, early on, Kevin Davies hesitated in front of an open goal, allowing his weak shot to be blocked.

Indeed, the visitors had dominated possession in the first 20 minutes, belying their lowly position in the table, although Coventry had threatened to strike on the counter-attack, first through Jay Bothroyd and then Gary McSheffrey. McAllister, for his part, expressed his extreme disappointment at losing after holding the lead, and highlighted failure to take early chances as a reason for defeat.

Yet despite those initial efforts it was still a surprise when Coventry took the lead. From a corner, the ball rebounded off Millwall's Stuart Nethercott. It was all his team-mate Ronnie Bull could do to poke the ball off the line, but McSheffrey was on hand to slam in the loose ball after half an hour.

Stung by that, Millwall came back swiftly and seven minutes before the break they had equalised. Christophe Kinet hit the post and Davies had a simple task to score his first goal since joining on loan from Southampton.

But that was not the end of an increasingly entertaining and open first half, as deep into injury time the ball fell to Lee Mills and from 30 yards his aim was true with an unstoppable drive.

Millwall were no slouches, though, in trying to pull back the deficit as Kinet had a chance to level matters within 30 seconds of the restart, seeing his shot parried by Debec. But the French goalkeeper had no chance four minutes later when a loose, bouncing ball fell to the Belgian and Kinet struck his shot sweetly from 12 yards.

Ultimately Harris's late goal was what Millwall deserved as they had forced the pace at the end of the second half, leaving Gritt to congratulate his players on their first away win of the season, saying: "It was a tremendous performance, especially with the spotlight on us and Dennis."

Coventry City 2
McSheffrey 31, Mills 45

Millwall 3
Davies 38, Kinet 50, Harris 85

Half-time: 2-1 Attendance: 13,562