Oxford United made it three wins in a row as they picked up their first away victory of the season at The Den. Rúben Rodrigues scored the game's only goal in the second half as the U's opened 2025 the same way they did 2024, with a win in London.
This was Gary Rowett's first away game, back at his former club, a place he spent four years in charge. Rowett kept the same starting line-up for the third game running, with the only change to Sunday's squad being the return of Josh McEachran to the bench following his recovery from illness.
It was a fairly frantic opening from both teams, although United looked reasonably secure both and out of in possession. As you'd expect from the home team, with a new manager, Millwall had the better of the early chances, with Romain Esse and Duncan Watmore both firing wide and Mihailo Ivanović shooting over in the opening quarter of an hour.
Jamie Cumming's first involvement came in the 25th minute, when he reacted well to turn away an Ivanović volley but that was a rare moment of action for the United keeper in a first half hour that was in reality fairly even.
It was then that United started to become more of a threat, with Rodrigues having one shot blocked and another swing narrowly wide, and it was Rodrigues again with a low cross that was just a foot too far in front of Mark Harris before Will Vaulks' shot from distance was straight at Lukas Jensen.
United took the lead 11 minutes into the second half and it came from another sweeping forward move. Harris rode a tackle in midfield and played the ball wide for Płacheta. His cross was met by Rodrigues, whose header came down off the bar and over the line to spark wild celebrations in the away end.
With 15 minutes remaining, Cumming produced a diving save to keep out a long-range free kick as Millwall looked for a way back into the game. However, Oxford didn't allow the home side any clear chances and in the end saw the game out to earn that priceless away win.
UNITED: Cumming, Long, Brown, Vaulks, Moore (Kioso 46), Płacheta (ter Avest 69), Brannagan, Harris (El Mizouni 82), Goodrham (Sibley 90), Rodrigues (Phillips 69), Leigh
Unused subs: Ingram, McEachran, Dembélé, Scarlett
Attendance: 14,964 including 1,526 away fans
Report: Martin Brodetsky; Photography: JasonPix, Steve Edmunds
