Neil Harris described today’s 2-1 triumph over Charlton as “special” after the Lions came from behind to boost their survival chances.

The Lions were awarded a 28th minute penalty after Chris Solly was adjudged to have handled Aiden O’Brien’s shot.

Solly was handed a straight red card, much to the defender’s fury as he protested the ball had actually struck his face, but Lee Gregory’s spot-kick was far from convincing and Stephen Henderson got down low to save.

Charlton’s keeper produced an excellent one-handed stop to deny Ed Upson before the break but the Lions would have been kicking themselves for not going in ahead.

And they paid the price midway through the second half when the 10-men broke the deadlock with a sublime finish by Alou Diarra from Morgan Fox’s delivery.

However, the lead was cancelled out on 79 minutes as substitute Mageye Gueye drilled in an angled low shot into the bottom corner past Henderson.

Simon Church squandered a glorious opportunity by glancing a header well and within moments the Addicks were behind as Gueye’s shot was deflected in via the outstretched leg of Jos Hooiveld.

Harris admitted: “It was special certainly. I’m delighted for my players, I’m just so chuffed for them because they’ve deserved that.

“I keep making them promises that they are going to do this and do that – some have worked and some haven’t.

“I said to them afterwards I’d have been gutted if we’d come in and not won because I promised them last week if they performed like they’d done on the training ground in games they’d beat Charlton.

“If we hadn’t have done I’d have been gutted for them, but I think for the whole the football club it was special today.

“We’ve not had a lot to cheer about this season.

“But to have that belief and momentum - we’re not making any promises about where we are going from here but Watford is the next game.”

Today’s vital victory was only Millwall’s fourth at The Den this season and Harris revealed improving that shocking statistic had been high in his thinking pre-match.

The interim manager explained: “We spoke in the build up to the game that the home form was the important thing for this football club and it has not quite been right.

“The Brighton game was a great starting point – a clean sheet against that opposition and a point was good.

“I demanded more afterwards and then today to do that against local rivals in such an important game was huge for us.

“It is one miracle but we really are one game at a time, I said that to the boys. We role on to Watford now.

“Today we had momentum, we had belief in our play, we had waves of attacks, sustained pressure – and I’ve spoken to the boys a lot about sustaining pressure.

“We can’t just be 15/20 minutes at home, it has got to be for longer periods.”

Harris added: “Today at 0-0 we had chance after chance and I thought their goalkeeper was outstanding.

“I’m thinking ‘Come on boys, something is going to drop for us’ and then we go 1-0 behind.

“That was a real kick in the teeth and there is somebody who doesn’t like us up there.

“But I think it was important the part the fans played when we went 1-0 down.

“To stick with the team in the situation we are in and to stick with your players and support them as they did was phenomenal. It doesn’t surprise me.”

All of the results elsewhere went in the Lions’ favour and they Harris has no doubts his players have the confidence and ability to beat the drop with Millwall now just four points from safety.

“The belief is there, they’ve made that themselves the players.

“They’ve got the belief and they’ve got a trust among themselves.

“I trust them to make their own decisions.

“All me and Livers can do is give them a base to play from.

“We work hard from that base during the week but then it is down to the players to perform.

“You can see on the pitch they are playing for each other.”

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