Bristol City 0-2 Millwall: Josh Coburn double gets Lions’ season off to great start

Millwall impressed in an action-packed opening few minutes as Camiel Neghli fired just wide while Casper de Norre’s flicked header from a corner landed on the top of the bar.

The visitors were left frustrated when Coburn felt he was brought down by goalkeeper Sam Tickle after breaking into the City box, only to be booked for a dive.

Millwall’s frustrations grew when highly rated winger Femi Azeez limped off before the half-hour mark, but five minutes later they were handed an advantage when Randell was shown a second yellow for pulling back Coburn as he tried to break from inside the City half.

Coburn was celebrating soon after as Azeez’s replacement Kyrell Lisbie got to the byeline and pulled the ball back for the forward to finish at the near post.

He should have got his second three minutes after the break when he got on the end of Lisbie’s low ball, but Tickle saved well.

However, Tickle’s indecisiveness was partly to blame two minutes later as Coburn outmuscled his marker to nod in debutant Jenson Metcalfe’s deep cross to put Alex Neil’s side 2-0 up.

It should have been 3-0 moments later as Coburn’s low ball across the face of the goal found new signing Tairyk Arconte, but he somehow hit the post when unmarked from a couple of yards out.

Former Millwall star Jed Wallace curled a free-kick over the bar as he made his Bristol City league debut off the bench midway through the half, while Jason Knight had a shot blocked with 13 minutes left in a rare foray forward.

But as City’s new-look strikeforce of Lorent Tolaj and Dom Ballard made their Championship debuts, they will hope to have better days as they struggled to make any impact.

Millwall had a third goal ruled out with two minutes left as Lisbie converted substitute Lyndon Dykes’ goalbound effort but was offside as the Scotland forward struck his shot.

Bristol City manager Michael Skubala told BBC Radio Bristol:

“It was a really tough one to take.

“We started the game a little bit edgy, and then I thought Dom and Tolly looked quite good linking up and we started to get moments in the game where we could transition really well, and it felt like the game was tipping into our favour.

“Then the second yellow sending-off for me changes the game and it becomes a very difficult afternoon, especially when you concede within a few minutes of the red card.

“It’s not about effort; the lads were cramping up, working hard, doing everything they can, but in the end the red card’s the thing that’s just killed the game.”

Millwall head coach Alex Neil told BBC Radio London:

“It was a real good, solid performance. We scored two goals, we should score another one when we hit the post from about three yards and had one chalked off.

“The balance of our play was very good, I didn’t think we gave Bristol much in the game.

“The sending-off obviously changes things, but that’s been a test for the likes of Millwall in the past – have we got enough quality to go and break somebody down?

“We showed more than enough quality today, we carried a threat right through the game.”