Millwall fans will love what Bartosz Bialkowski said after huge Stoke City win | OneFootball

The Lions are still in with a shot of automatic promotion with two matches to go

Millwall have been one of the surprise packages of the Championship season in Alex Neil's first full campaign at The Den, and they are still in with a chance of achieving the unexpected.

After labouring to a goalless draw against West Bromwich Albion on April 10th, the Lions have responded in fine fashion with back-to-back victories over Queens Park Rangers and Stoke City, with the latter result on Tuesday night also bound to please Neil on a personal level given his previous managerial stint in North Staffordshire.

Indeed, they were the dominant side for the majority of the encounter against a Potters side who have endured an extremely frustrating second half of the Championship season under Mark Robins as a result of poor form and major injury misfortune.

Camiel Neghli got the ball rolling for the South London side after 20 minutes with a curling strike from just inside the box, before Femi Azeez backed up his recent inclusion in the Championship Team of the Season at the EFL Awards with a stunning strike early in the second period, albeit some will argue that Stoke goalkeeper, Gavin Bazunu, should have prevented the effort from hitting the back of the net.

Millwall then wrapped the three points up with 21 minutes to spare when Josh Coburn turned home his ninth goal of the season, nine minutes after Caleb Taylor's own goal gave the hosts a glimmer of hope regarding a comeback.

It is a crucial victory for Millwall, though, and their 23rd of the season with two matches still to play, as they hit the 79-point mark and returned to the Championship's automatic promotion spots, for the time being at least, piling the pressure on Ipswich Town in the process.

And, after the game, a favourite of both Millwall and Ipswich supporters issued a short statement that those in the capital will love.

Bartosz Bialkowski reacts to Millwall's huge victory against Stoke City

With Millwall now returning to second place, they will be hoping their South London rivals, Charlton Athletic, can pull off a major turn up for the books and frustrate the Tractor Boys, as a draw or defeat for the Suffolk club would keep them behind the Lions in the table despite having a game in hand against Southampton next Tuesday.

However, with results elsewhere involving Hull City and Wrexham somewhat falling the way of Millwall, the club have now achieved a play-off spot at Championship level for the first time since 2001/02, when they were defeated by Birmingham City at the semi-final stage.

It has been 36 years since Millwall's only two-year spell in the First Division ended, meaning over two generations have known nothing but the club being an established Championship or League One side, having missed out on the top six multiple times within the last decade.

Unsurprisingly, the club's official Instagram page celebrated the aforementioned initial achievement whilst also confirming "But we're far from done," showcasing their desire to achieve automatic promotion.

Bialkowski, who played 169 times for the club between 2019 and 2022 was amongst those in the replies, making his affinity to the Lions well-known with the words: "What a club," followed by a handful of emojis to further sum up his thoughts.

Millwall will hope to run Ipswich Town all the way in automatic promotion race

At present, the pressure is certainly on Ipswich given the squad depth and quality at Kieran McKenna's disposal, and Millwall's fine run of form will certainly add to that.

The Lions have lost just three of their last 16 Championship matches, and two successive wins at this stage of the season after a disappointing draw at West Brom and a 2-1 loss to Norwich City is the ideal response.

Regardless of Ipswich's result against the Addicks, Neil's team have the chance to put the pressure back on Ipswich shoulders ahead of their three-game week to end the season off as they travel to Leicester City on Friday night, before rounding the regular season off against Oxford United in SE16.