Newcastle United came to the Den with a quiet business in mind and carried it out. Millwall, 0:1 in the League Cup Round of 32 on Tuesday evening, offered little after the break and paid for it late. Joe Willock's eightieth-first-minute finish was enough to see the visitors through.
By then the match had settled into a rhythm neither side could break. Millwall pressed in the opening half and saw Amar Dedić come off at the break, while Newcastle brought on Yoane Wissa and Jacob Murphy around the hour mark. Jenson Metcalfe and Jacob Ramsey each picked up yellow cards as the tempo tightened things up.
And here's the thing — the visitors weren't creating much from their dominance. They had six shots on target and still managed only one goal. Millwall, with just two on target, had five saves to thank their keeper for before Willock finally made the difference.
To be fair, the statistics tell the same story. Newcastle held 65 per cent possession and won 15 corners to one, but their ten blocked shots suggest they have hit a wall. Millwall managed 189 successful passes from 254 attempts, while the visitors completed 391 out of 451.
The result keeps Newcastle's progress alive and sends Millwall back to the drawing board. They had come into this fixture with mixed form — a 4:0 win over Bolton followed by defeats to both REXham and Southampton — and this loss adds another notch to an uneven run.
By then it was all over. Willock came off at the death, the crowd roared them on, and the visitors left with a narrow but comfortable advantage.
