After warm, sunny weather over the Easter weekend, Monday dawned cool but dry. The visitors for this afternoon's game are Millwall, who have travelled up from South London. They are just below the Rovers in the League table and had a good win at home over Nottingham Forest on Saturday. After the first half of the season was spent in the relegation zone they have come good and worked their way to the safety of mid-table. The Rovers utilised their squad by making three changes from Saturday, with Adam Lockwood coming in for Graeme Lee, James Coppinger returning for Lewis Guy and Paul Green taking over from Brian Stock. Millwall made two changes, Chris Hackett and Marvin Williams replacing the injured Marvin Elliott and Ryan Smith. Despite their normal colours being blue they appeared in an all black strip, with red trimmings. The Rovers defended the South Stand end in the first half.

Mark Wilson set the ball rolling for the Rovers and they immediately won a corner on their left. Lockwood at the far post headed wide. On 6 minutes, the Rovers were awarded a free kick about 25 yards out to the right of goal. Green got on the end of it at the far post but it was deflected out for another corner to the Rovers. With ten minutes on the clock, a long clearance from keeper Pidgeley was allowed to bounce a couple of times before Williams got in a weak header from close range, which Sullivan saved. Two minutes later and Hackett got down the Millwall right before crossing to the back post for Hubertz but Lockwood got there to put out for a corner to the visitors. The 13th minute arrived and the Rovers took the lead when COPPINGER rifled in from the right of the penalty area following shots from Heffernan and Thornton that had been blocked. The Lions hit back by forcing a corner on their left, which Robinson headed just past a post. The match evened out for a spell before Millwall won their second corner. Harris took a return ball, cut in and hit a shot from the angle past the far post. Minutes later, excellent football out of defence by the Rovers found Heffernan on the edge of the Millwall penalty area. His curling shot went inches wide of the post. As the half hour came up, Hackett, for Millwall, put a shot high, wide and not very handsomely over the bar. Pressure by the Rovers failed to add to their score over the next five minutes or so. Nine minutes from the break, Senda put over a good cross for Hubertz, at the far post, to head back to a colleague but Lockwood put out for a corner. The Lions kept the pressure on and on 38 minutes, it paid off for them. Some indeterminate play on the Rovers right side of their penalty area led to the ball landing at Hubertz feet. A low left foot cross found WILLIAMS, unmarked in the middle, to smash past Sullivan for an equalising goal. Millwall kept the pressure on to the break and had a good shout for a penalty for handball a minute from time but the referee wasn't interested.

Four minutes into the second half and Hubertz had the ball in the net but the referee disallowed it for pulling back O'Connor to get to the ball. Then, minutes later, a good move by Rovers gave Heffernan a chance of a shot but he was block tackled by Robinson and the ball cleared. Unfortunately for the Rovers, it was Heffernan's last touch of the ball. He had no doubt jarred his foot and ankle in the tackle and was replaced by Forte. Green then had a run at the Millwall defence but his thunderous drive was diverted for a corner. Past the hour and a shout for a penalty to the Rovers for a tackle on Cademarteri was ignored by the referee.The Rovers were now doing the pressing but could not find a way through the Millwall defence. Halfway through the half and it was end-to-end play, with Harris, of Millwall, curling a shot wide of a post and Thornton shooting over as he was tackled at the other end. A good move down the Rovers right led to a ball going over Forte's head in front of goal. At the Rovers end, Millwall forced successive corners but they were cleared. On 71 minutes, Thornton intercepted a pass and burst through on goal but was hauled down by Robinson. The referee deemed that cover was available on either side and only issued a caution to Robinson. A corner to Millwall and a shot by Forte from 18 yards that went wide continued the end-to-end scenario. However, after 83 minutes, Harris got away down the Millwall right catching the Rovers defence a bit light at the back. There wasn't a flag from the linesman so he was able to pull the ball back for HUBERTZ to fire home and give the Lions the lead. A free kick on the Rovers right saw Roberts put in a good left foot effort that Pidgeley did well to save. Continuing to search for an equaliser, The ball was sread out to Roberts on the left. His cross went over Forte but was headed out for a corner, which Stock swung into the middle. Forte headed the ball down but the bounce hit the bar and Hubertz cleared. Into added-on-time and a terrific drive from Thornton was actually blocked by Coppinger in a crowded penalty area. Time ran out on the Rovers as they pushed on but the final whistle came with Millwall running out winners by 2 goals to 1.

A pulsating game that the Rovers were unlucky to lose. There was a question of offside about the winning goal but it counted and the Rovers were down. 

Teams - ROVERS - Neil Sullivan; James O'Connor, Harry Worley, Adam Lockwood, Gareth Roberts; James Coppinger, Paul Green, Mark Wilson, Sean Thornton; Danny Cademarteri, Paul Heffernan

Subs used - Jonathan Forte for Heffernan 55 mins; Graeme Lee for Worley 72 mins; Brian Stock for Green 79 mins;

Subs not used - Lewis Guy, Bruce Dyer.

Millwall - Lenny Pidgeley; Danny Senda, Paul Robinson, Richard Shaw, Tony Craig; Chris Hackett, Alan Dunne, David Brammer, Marvin Williams; Neil Harris, Poul Hubertz.

Subs used - Neal Ardley for Hackett 64 mins;

Subs not used - Chris Casement, Nathan Ashton, Ali Fuseini, Chris Day gk.

Cautions - Senda, Robinson, Shaw,