With Watford one of the Championship’s in form sides, a home game against fellow play-off chasers Millwall had the hallmarks of a thriller.
It was the visitors though who made the stronger start and George Saville almost made the Lions’ advantage count inside the opening 20 minutes, but Daniel Bachmann was equal to his fierce drive before beating away Jake Cooper’s effort on the follow-up.
There was nothing the Watford stopper could do to prevent Millwall from taking the lead just moments later though, when Andreas Voglsammer pounced upon a defensive slip-up to rifle home his first goal in Millwall colours.
As if the first half hadn’t been bad enough for Watford, their problems deepened before the break.
Slaven Bilić lost star man João Pedro to injury, before Hassane Kamara was sent off on home soil for the second time this season, given his marching orders for needlessly lashing out at Danny McNamara to leave his side with a serious mountain to climb after the interval.
With a man extra, Millwall wasted no time in trying to make their advantage count, but try as he might, there was still no way past Bachmann for Saville, who was again denied from a similar range by the Watford goalkeeper.
Despite their numerical deficit, it was clear to see Watford remained dangerous and only a last-ditch Cooper challenge denied Keinan Davis what looked set to be a certain goal.
Having kept just one clean sheet in their last 16 league away trips, there was bound to be some jitters in the Millwall backline in the closing stages, but even with such a dreadful defensive record, Gary Rowett’s well-drilled rearguard looked assured and it was starman Zian Flemming whose cross-come-shot snuck in at the other end to secure three points which, at least temporarily, fires Millwall into the play-off places.
As for Watford, their four-match unbeaten league run is over, as is their run of six home H2H meetings against Millwall without defeat.
