Barnsley travelled to the Den without a win in 11 and the pressure on Keith Hill was quickly building.
Barnsley had the early chances with Tudagy testing David forde in the Millwall Goal and blazing over shortly after, it looked like the goal shy reds may struggle to convert the chances as they did in the derby defeat last week.
Just before the half hour mark Millwall were awarded a penalty for a foul on Darious Henderson by Scott Wiseman, Henderson dusted himself off only to blaze the spot kick over the bar.
As the half hour arrived the Lions were made to pay for the missed penalty Tudgay hitting them on the break with the ball finding its way to Jim O’Brien who saw is shot saved only for Stephen Dawson to put the ball in the net and the Super Reds 1-0 up.
Henderson and Lowry were then denied by the excellent Luke Steel. Just before the break Barnsley had chances through John Stones and Jim O’Brien both hitting the side netting.
Millwall’s task got more difficult 10 minutes after the interval when Smith was sent off after he lunged in on David Perkins.
It looked like a 50-50 challenge but referee Trevor Kettle deemed it to be two-footed and produced a straight red card.
Barnsley sensed the chance of a rare win and Perkins drove the ball goalwards but his effort was kept out by Forde.
Millwall looked to have denied the reds all three points when Chris Wood was played through by Dany N’Guessan and beat steele with confidence.
Step up loanee Marcus Tudgay to give the reds 3 points and set them up nicely for what will be a vital christmas period!
What do you reds fans think the festive period will bring??
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Hill’s Thoughts
“I’m delighted with the performance and delighted with the effort but let’s not get carried away,” said Hill. “We must take it into the next game.
“We’ve been working hard all week on what we wanted to do. We had to give Millwall respect as they’ve been in excellent form and it worked for us.”
Hill felt Smith’s red card was harsh on the hosts, adding: “I don’t think it was a sending-off, and at best it was a yellow.
“The player was fully committed in the challenge and I like to see tackles. It was a well-timed tackle but I don’t think the ref saw it like that.
“We should have managed the end of the game better against 10 men. The momentum was with Millwall but I think that was their downfall at the end.
“It’s been a long and frustrating wait since we had the winning feeling. The fans that travelled deserve a lot of credit and they want a team to be proud of.”
Let’s hope it can give us some momentum and we can pick points up over the Christmas period.