Lee Martin’s strike midway through the second-half was enough to settle an entertaining U21 Professional Development League Two South encounter between Millwall and Brentford at The Den.

Brentford, with Maxime Colin and Josh McEachran both coming through 90 minutes as they returned from injury, controlled the match for large periods and came closest to scoring when Tom Field struck the post in the second-half.

However moments later Mikael Ndjoli broke clear down the left and crossed for Martin to tap home to extend The Bees winless run in the league to three matches.

Brentford dominated possession from the off with McEachran seeing plenty of the ball in the early stages. The hosts set up with two solid banks of four and The Bees extra man in midfield meant that one of McEachran, Bradley Clayton or Reece Cole was always available to pick up possession. Clayton in particular was finding space in-between Millwall’s midfield and defence to play facing goal and encourage Colin and Field forward from the full-back positions.

The Bees could have gone ahead inside 90 seconds as Colin burst down to the by-line and pulled the ball back across the face of goal. Jan Holldack couldn’t get the ball out of his feet and when the ball fell to Courtney Senior ten yards out he blazed over.

Millwall saw almost none of the ball in the opening ten minutes but did fashion a chance with their first attack of note as neat interplay from a throw in allowed Kris Twardek to cut inside onto his left foot and unleash a shot from 25 yards that flew over the bar with Nik Tzanev at full stretch.

For all their play in the opening stages The Bees hadn’t created too much in the way of clear opportunities but that changed on the quarter hour mark. Firstly a fine flowing move between Colin, Cole and Clayton allowed Alves to run in behind but his low shot was too close to Tom King and the Millwall stopper kept it out with his legs. A minute later it was Clayton who went close as he ran in behind, his right footed effort bobbling wide of King’s far post.

As the half went on it became more of an even contest as Millwall got to grips with The Bees extra man in midfield and closed down the spaces on the edge of the box. The Lions also began to pose some questions of their own and Daniel O’Shaughnessy recovered brilliantly to clear off the line as Martin beat him on the edge of the box.

McEachran had been at the heart of a lot of The Bees first-half play and he nearly got himself a goal when he combined with Cole and then Alves on the edge of the box, his shot flying narrowly over the bar from 15 yards.  Alves then passed up The Bees best chance of the half, prodding into the hands of King from close range after a wicked Field cross that deserved to lead to a goal.

The Lions themselves passed up chances late on in the half as Tzanev rushed out to smother an effort from Ndjoli and then a loose McEachran pass was picked up by the Millwall frontman but Field got back well to dispossess Ebere Eze inside the box.

Both teams had chances of the start of an even second-half: Christian Mbulu making a perfectly timed tackle to deny Alves as he looked to sweep home Senior’s cutback while at the other end Tzanev was again out smartly to deny Martin as his pace got him in behind the Brentford backline.

Millwall were content to sit back and absorb pressure and play on the counter and it was a plan which nearly worked midway through the half as Martin played in Ndjoli but Field got back to clear off the line after the Millwall forward had rounded Tzanev.

Colin opened his account for Brentford in the defeat to Charlton Athletic last week and he must have thought that he had a second goal in Bees colours when he connected with Senior’s low cross but somehow his shot was turned behind by a Lions defender, from the corner Field found space on the edge of the box and smashed the upright.

The Bees were made to pay for their missed chances with 20 minutes to play as Chris Mepham and O’Shaughnessy were left two on two against Martin and Ndjoli, the former in the right place to tap home the latter’s cross from the byline.

Millwall grew in confidence after the goal and Tzanev made a brave save at the feet of Romeo, Ndjoli bent an effort from 25 yards just past the post and Tzanev was off his line quickly to beat Twardek to a through ball.

The Bees upped the pressure in the closing stages and should have had a penalty with seven minutes to play when Noah Chesmain tangled with Colin inside the box, Chesmain’s next involvement was to make a fine block from a Holldack effort.

The German midfielder saw a late effort dribble behind after a deflection and also skimmed a header wide deep into injury time but it wasn’t to be as The Lions held on to pick up the three points.

Millwall: Tom King; Mahlon Romeo, Christian Mbulu, Keaton Wood, Noah Chesmain (sub Ronnie O'Donnell 93 mins); Ebere Eze, Jimmy Abdou (sub Chris Parr 65 mins), Kyron Farrell, Kris Twardek; Mikael Ndjoli, Lee Martin Subs not used: Ryan Sandford, Ronnie O'Donnell, James Fitzgerald, Ryan Bray

Brentford: Nik Tzanev; Maxime Colin, Chris Mepham, Daniel O'Shaughnessy, Tom Field; Josh McEachran, Reece Cole; Courtney Senior, Bradley Clayton (sub Seika Jatta 72 mins), Jan Holldack; Herson Rodrigues Alves (sub Audrius Laucys 72 mins) Subs not used: Jordan Carey, Gradi Milenge