Femi Azeez scored on his return from injury as Millwall returned to winning ways in the Sky Bet Championship with a 1-0 victory over bottom side Sheffield Wednesday.
After seeing his side spurn a succession of chances after half-time, substitute Azeez's header earned the Lions their first win in five games as they rose to fourth in the table.
It was not all one-way traffic at The Den, however, as the Owls hit the woodwork twice in the second half as they showed their defeat in the Sheffield derby last Sunday has not completely broken their spirit.
Millwall started slowly, with their first chance coming in the 20th minute when Caleb Taylor headed a good cross by Alfie Doughty wide at the back post.
The Lions then should have gone in front when Tristan Crama laid the ball off for Thierno Ballo whose initial shot was stopped by Owls goalkeeper Ethan Horvath before his follow-up was blocked by Dominic Iorfa.
The visitors almost made them pay when Bailey Cadamarteri's shot from just outside the area appeared to take a slight deflection ahead of Millwall goalkeeper Max Crocombe turning it behind.
Wednesday skipper Barry Bannan then almost produced a moment of magic in a first half that lacked a spark when his lob from over 40 yards had Crocombe scrambling back before he just about tipped the ball over.
Wednesday could argue they edged the first 45 minutes on chances, with Millwall really needing to up their performance if they were to justify their tag of pre-match favourites.
They had a chance to break the deadlock five minutes after the restart when Doughty's pass ran for Crama whose bending effort was pushed away by Horvath.
After Millwall striker Mihailo Ivanovic had a goal ruled out for offside, the Owls came within a whisker of going ahead themselves when Harry Amass' ball low across the area reached Charlie McNeill who rattled his shot against the bar.
The chances were suddenly flowing with Camiel Neghli guilty of shooting wastefully over for the Lions after Ivanovic had rolled the ball into his path.
There was more frustration for the hosts when Luke Cundle skied an effort from six yards out before Taylor's scrambled effort was cleared off the line by Bannan.
But the breakthrough finally arrived for Millwall in the 71st minute when Doughty's cross was guided into the bottom corner by a neat header from Azeez.
Wednesday were not out of it yet, however, and they nearly levelled when Jamal Lowe fired a terrific strike that left Crocombe standing but hit the outside of the post.
Ra'ees Bangura-Williams was then the latest Lions player to be denied by Horvath, but the hosts' second-half profligacy did not prove to be costly.
Millwall's Alex Neil:
"I think certainly in the first half you could sense a bit of anxiety in the stadium, you could sense a bit of anxiety in the players.
"I thought in the second half we were a lot more threatening - we created a lot of chances. If we were more clinical, it would have been a more comfortable evening and I think when you're not clinical, you then leave it open.
"They've had two good opportunities where they've hit the woodwork as well, but I thought over the piece we deserved to win the game. We were the more threatening side.
"But these games are never easy - people make out you should just rock up and win, but they drew away at West Brom, they drew away at Birmingham. I thought after we scored you could see a bit of confidence come in - it's amazing that's not there beforehand."
Sheffield Wednesday's Henrik Pedersen:
"We were all very disappointed with the performance on Sunday (against Sheffield United) and as we spoke about with the team there will be some up and downs, but this was not the day to have a down.
"We were all very disappointed and the reaction from the boys today…I think it was great.
"They did everything that they could today to get a result back home, and for me I saw again our boys play with a big heart, with their big discipline, with their big commitment, their togetherness and also with their courage to play.
"Overall, I think they created more than we did, but we had some big chances in some big moments - two times at 0-0 and we also had the chance to come back at 1-0 down.
"With a little bit of luck, then we could also have scored and got something."
