MILLWALL took the lead but could not survive an impressive Leicester City second half comeback at the King Power Stadium.
Tom Bradshaw headed the Lions in front and they would hang on until half-time after a spirited, disciplined and determined first 45 minutes.
But Leicester would come out sharply after the break to score twice in the opening six minutes of the second half through Jannik Vestergaard and Patson Daka.
Ricardo Pereira put the game to bed when he scored 12 minutes from time to confirm the Foxes would be heading back to the top of the Championship table before a late goal in stoppage time by Kevin Nisbet briefly gave Millwall hope of an unlikely comeback of their own.
There were undoubtedly positives to take from what was a fourth defeat in five games for Joe Edwards’ side.
Before they were overwhelmed by Leicester’s talent, there was far more buzz and attitude from a team who struggled at Cardiff and completely fell apart at Ipswich in recent weeks.
But the loss combined with Queens Park Rangers’ 0-0 draw with Plymouth Argyle means Millwall have been left just a point above the bottom three, and they host the side just below them, Huddersfield Town, in a huge crunch game at The Den on Saturday.
After an even start, Millwall struck inside 10 minutes to give the travelling fans belief that this would be a night to remember in the east Midlands.
A brilliant curling cross by Murray Wallace met the head of Bradshaw, who got subtle but decisive contact on the ball to help it in at the far post.
It was the 31-year-old’s first goal in 11 games and it set the tone for a largely confident and assured first half display from the away side.
Bradshaw even tried to return the favour a couple minutes later when the Welshman sent in a cross but the late-arriving Wallace could not generate enough power on his header.
Leicester laboured until the half-hour mark with the only negative for the visitors being the amount of yellow cards they were picking up. First it was Wes Harding, then it was Jake Cooper and then it was Wallace who were all booked over the course of 10 minutes.
Smelling blood, right-winger Abdul Fatawu joined the party and began a one-man onslaught on the Millwall defence. With the 19-year-old dancing past the already-cautioned Wallace with ease, his Leicester teammates became encouraged.
Apart from a shot by Bradshaw that would fly into the side-netting, the Foxes pinned Millwall back and began to find rhythm.
Patson Daka slashed a shot wide from a corner and Wilfred Ndidi launched one over after a Fatawu cross.
The main moment of concern for the Lions came after 36 minutes when Fatawu got in again. This time it was up to Harding to stop his advancement and the former Rotherham United defender dived in late to try and win the ball on the byline. Referee Keith Shroud gave a corner but really he would have been justified to give Harding a second yellow and Leicester a penalty.
Edwards took action at half-time to bolster his defence as Danny McNamara came on for the struggling Wallace.
But the switch could do nothing to prevent Leicester’s second half revival as they struck twice in the opening six minutes of the second half.
After Matija Sarkic was required to keep out Ndidi in the opening minute of the restart, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall sent a cross in that Vestergaard converted with a looping header.
And four minutes after that goal, Ndidi would cross from the byline and leave Daka just needing to tap the ball in the back post.
It was a bit reminiscent of the early collapse at Ipswich but, unlike at Portman Road two weeks ago, Millwall had both a goal and 45 minutes of hard work behind them to try and inspire them back in the game.
But Leicester would keep the pressure up even after taking the lead and suddenly found all of the composure and attacking threat that they had been lacking in the first half. It could have been three before the hour mark with Stephy Mavididi knocking his back post header against the side-netting.
Once that storm had passed the Lions showed signs of recovery and Zian Flemming and Nisbet, both dropped to the bench for this game, were introduced to try and liven things up.
But not long after their introduction, Leicester struck again. Substitute Thomas Cannon failed to force an effort through a crowd of bodies but Ricardo was on hand to pick up the pieces and fire a deflected strike in for 3-1.
That looked to be game over but George Honeyman almost set up an interesting finale when his back post shot was cleared off the line by Wout Faes. And then Nisbet took Leicester’s complacency as an invitation to grab a goal in stoppage time as he forced home a corner.
It’s the first time all season that Leicester have conceded twice in a league game but that would have been scant consolation for Millwall who could not fashion another chance to grab an unlikely equaliser.
All attention must now turn to what is a huge game against Huddersfield on Saturday.
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Leicester: 4-3-3: Hermansen; Pereira (c), Coady (Justin 59′), Vestergaard, Faes; Winks, Ndidi, Dewsbury-Hall (Praet 79′); Fatawu, Daka (Cannon 71′), Mavididi.
Millwall: 5-2-1-2: Sarkic; Norton-Cuffy, Leonard, Cooper (c), Harding, Wallace (McNamara 46′); Campbell (Mitchell 83′), Saville; Honeyman (Longman 82′); Watmore (Flemming 74′), Bradshaw (Nisbet 74′).
Referee: Keith Stroud
Attendance: 28,960