Millwall boss Alex Neil issues injury update that will impact Sunderland and Portsmouth clashes

Millwall are hanging in there on the playoff periphery, six points off the top six after a dramatic late win over strugglers Stoke City on Saturday. Mihailo Ivanovic scored the all-important goal again, tucking away a penalty four minutes into stoppage time.

The Lions have an important run of games awaiting them on the other side of the international break, facing likely play-off-bound Sunderland, then strugglers Portsmouth and then two more promotion hopefuls in Sheffield United and Middlesbrough.

It’s a tough run of fixtures that could define Millwall’s season as far as any play-off hopes go, albeit a top-half finish would represent a clear step forward regardless of whether they extend their season beyond the usual 46 games.

The Sunderland game will be seen a s big game for both teams, and Millwall have a couple of injury issues heading into that one, with George Honeyman and Femi Azeez both sidelined. Providing an update on those players after the Stoke win, Neil told Southwark News: “George will be quicker than Femi. Femi, it depends on how bad it is at the moment. I think it’ll be at least four weeks. George will probably be two to three.”

Neil on the win

Neil believes his side deserved to beat his old team irrespective of the debated penalty decision. He told BBC Sport: “Whether it's a penalty or not, we've all been victims of decisions across the season, but I thought it was no more than we deserved for our second-half performance. At this level, a lot of games are defined by key moments – whether you take that chance, whether it was a penalty, whether you can execute that pass, get that strike away.

"It was a really pleasing win [because] you're playing against a team that's fighting for their life at this stage of the season. They got a really good win during the week, they've got a really strong squad – half of that squad I put together, so there's some really good players in there, but for us that was an excellent win.

"Today I put the two forwards in, forcing us a little bit to go a bit more direct in the game. I didn't think it worked particularly well first half, but I thought second half I thought we were excellent at it."