Millwall 2 - 0 Port Vale: Millwall power on with victory over Port Vale

Millwall continued their pursuit of promotion to the Sky Bet Championship with a 2-0 home win over lowly Port Vale.

After moving into the League One play-off places with Saturday's 1-0 win over Southend, they comfortably outplayed their visitors to The Den and strengthened their grip on sixth place with goals from Aiden O'Brien and Jake Cooper.

Twentieth-placed Vale, whose flat performance demonstrated why they are at such risk of relegation, also became the fifth consecutive team against which the hosts have avoided conceding. Millwall's record stands at seven clean sheets from eight, and they have remained unbeaten since defeat at Scunthorpe on December 17 as they prepare for Saturday's FA Cup fifth-round fixture at home to Leicester, the Premier League champions.

It was in the 26th minute when O'Brien put Millwall ahead. They had already repeatedly threatened owing largely to Steve Morison's desire and belief, when amid pressure from the energetic Fred Onyedinma, Vale's attempts to clear fell kindly to O'Brien, who struck across goalkeeper Leonardo Fasan and into the bottom right corner from 12 yards.

Morison missed out on the goal his work-rate and display deserved in the 51st minute, when Fasan saved his poorly-struck penalty after Kjell Knops had brought Jed Wallace down in the area.

A minute later, however, the hosts scored their second goal to secure all three points. From a left-wing corner, Shaun Williams crossed towards Cooper, who headed in at the back post and saw his goal stand despite Vale protesting to referee Darren Drysdale that the ball had not crossed the line.