Striker Josh Coburn scored the winner for Millwall as they beat Derby County at The Den to strengthen their automatic promotion bid.

Coburn bagged his sixth goal in 13 games to lift the third-placed Lions to just a point behind second-placed Middlesbrough in the Championship.

Derby wasted chances to earn at least a point and, although they remain seventh, they have lost four of their past seven league games.

The visitors went close to equalising in stoppage time when Patrick Agyemang's shot came off the far post.

Boss Alex Neil deserves huge credit for the job he is doing at Millwall on modest resources and he has Lions fans dreaming of a first return to the top flight since 1990.

Derby deserved better and they threatened first, with Femi Azeez clearing Agyemang's header from Joe Ward's corner off the line.

Millwall took charge and Mihailo Ivanovic saw a free-kick deflected wide before Derby goalkeeper Josh Vickers pushed Zak Sturge's header away.

Coburn then headed an Azeez cross well over, but made amends on 43 minutes when he scored at the back post with a glancing header from Tristan Crama's hooked ball after Agyemang failed to clear Barry Bannan's free-kick.

Derby improved and Lewis Travers fired wide from 20 yards before Ivanovic directed a header straight at Vickers at the other end.

Agyemang, Sam Szmodics and Carlton Morris squandered glorious chances for Derby in the final quarter of the match.

Agyemang beat Crama, only to pull his left-foot shot horribly wide, before Szmodics fired across goal from a great position on the right, and Morris missed the target with a header.

Then Agyemang shot against the post in the fourth minute of stoppage time as Millwall held on for a massive win.

Millwall manager Alex Neil told BBC Radio London:

"I thought we deserved to win the game. I thought first half, we were the better side. I thought the difference in the game was always going to be who keeps the ball at the top end of the pitch.

"Josh Coburn did that brilliantly for us in the first half and it allowed us to build ourselves into the game and create opportunities. Our defenders dealt with their centre-forwards in the first half.

"The players have done fantastically well and we've already beaten our points tally for last season.

"I don't really think about Middlesbrough. I don't think about the pressure. I just think we've got games coming up and we need to try and win them."

Derby boss John Eustace told BBC Radio Derby:

"I'm disappointed to lose. I thought second half, we were excellent, and we've got to take the chances when they're given to us.

"To concede again, another soft goal on our part. Millwall are going to score from free-kicks and corners and for us not to defend the second or third phase is disappointing. We have to learn from it and we have to stop conceding those kind of goals.

"I think the free-kick which led to their goal certainly wasn't a free-kick. I think sometimes it just takes a bit of a calm head to make the right decisions. I've got to be careful what I say, of course, but even at the end, it could easily have been a penalty.

"So listen, we're disappointed, but we've got to take a lot of heart and we were very positive in the second half.

"We've come to a team third in the league, doing very well, and put in a really good performance in that second half."