Serioux shines as Lions rediscover their roar

Millwall 2 - Leicester City

Millwall exceeded the expectations of even their most optimistic admirers last year by finishing 10th in Division One and reaching the final of the FA Cup, but they entered their third game of this season without a goal to their name and looking a shadow of their former selves.

Millwall exceeded the expectations of even their most optimistic admirers last year by finishing 10th in Division One and reaching the final of the FA Cup, but they entered their third game of this season without a goal to their name and looking a shadow of their former selves.

By the end of what was a resounding victory over Leicester City at the New Den, Millwall had well and truly regained their colour and had demonstrated that a slow start should not stop them from building on last season's promise.

"We deservedly won," said Ray Wilkins, the Millwall assistant manager, who watched from the sidelines as player-manager Dennis Wise scrapped his way through the midfield battle. "We out-muscled them but we also out-played them and that's the nature of the game.

"All the top clubs have to do that - fight for wins. We hadn't been ourselves so we got back to basics. We've worked hard and it looked a bit like last season's performances."

It was one of Millwall's few summer additions, Canadian international Adrian Serioux, who stole the show. Having been signed from Toronto Lynx after impressing in pre-season, Serioux produced an assured midfield performance that was backed-up by a series of long throw-ins that caused chaos.

It was one of Serioux's massive throws that supplied Millwall's opening goal on 36 minutes, the diminutive Jody Morris touching home a 50-yard bomb from the Canadian at close range. Wise and Serioux excelled in midfield and the pair stopped Leicester's front pairing of Nathan Blake and David Connolly benefiting from any sort of supply line. With Leicester toothless, Millwall put the game beyond doubt on 76 minutes when Danny Dichio held off Nikos Dabizas to force the ball low past Ian Walker in the Leicester goal.

"As a midfield four, we could have been a bit more creative and lacked a bit of punch up front," said the Leicester manager, Micky Adams. "But I have been down this route before. It is not where we want to be, but it is very early yet."

Goals: Morris (36) 1-0, Dichio (76) 2-0.

Millwall (4-4-2): Stack; Lawrence, Simpson, Elliot, Ward; Serioux, Wise, Morris, Livermore; Dichio, McCammon (Moore 68). Subs not used: Harris, Marshall, Sweeney, Dunne.

Leicester City (4-4-2): Walker; Dabizas, Keown, Makin, Stewart (Gillespie 59); Wilcox, Williams, Scowcroft, Nalis (Gudjonsson 67); Blake (Benjamin 67), Connolly. Subs not used: Pressman, Gemmill.

Booked: Millwall: Dichio, Wise, Leicester: Keown

Sent off: Leicester: Makin (86).

Referee: Steve Dunn (Gloucestershire).

Attendance: 11,754.

Man of the match: Adrian Serioux.