Godden who had denied Millwall almost single-handedly for 80 minutes, inexplicably allowed Hurlock's free kick to slip through his hands and Walker, hardly renowned as a goalscorer, couldn't miss from three yards.

Not to he outdone full back Keith Stevens, who had only scored two goals in 175 previous first team outings, put the outcome beyond doubt with a far post header from Danis Salman’ s 89th minute corner.

Ratings: Horne***, Stevens****, Sparham***, Walker***, Wood****, Lawrence***, Briley ***, Sheringham**, Cascarino***, Salman ****

Referee David Axcell (Southend). Booking: Walker   Match rating: 4

It was a performance that left John Docherty beaming with delight, shell-shocked Birmingham wondering what had hit them and the healthy 6,758 crowd roaring their approval. Here we go, here we go, here we go?

It all looked highly unlikely when the previously unbeaten Midland side cashed in on an uncharacteristic error by teenage full back Scan Sparham to take the lead after just four minutes - Tony Rees curling home Steve Wigley's cross. 

After the frustration of Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Leicester it was just the sort of start Millwall could have done without and Docherty admitted. "You can keep telling then to he patient, but when something like that happens it is a big test of character, especially at home when the crowd are anxious for you to do well. 

Tony Godden, who had already pulled off one stupendous save from George Lawrence tested Millwall's reserves of patience with assorted heroics to frustrate Tony Cascarino and Teddy Sheringham. 

But just when it looked as though Millwall's frustration would get the better of them Godden could only parry a 33rd minute Cascarino header and Lawrence gleefully drilled home the rebound for his third goal in four games.

That set the scene for a second half of almost relentless Millwall pressure with Les Briley and Terry Hurlock dictating, things in midfield and Danis Salman getting through an unprecedented amount of work on the left. Sheringham provided the overworked Godden with some more employment But Docherty's insatiable appetite for goals seems to have spread right through the team and it was centre half Alan Walker who finally cracked Birmingham's desperate rearguard action.

Millwall 3 Birmingham 1                      By Peter Cordwell

DON'T blink or you'll miss Millwall's enthralling brand of soccer. Their game, rejuvenated by the big summer signings, is based almost entirely on momentum. 

They drill the ball at their strikers -. usually around head height - and zip in to pick up the pieces with ravenous enthusiasm. It's a momentum that ultimately left Birmingham, previously unbeaten, ragged and dispirited. And who's to say it won't take the Lions, like Watford, all the way to Division One? 

Teddy Sheringham, so often a lone, frustrated forager last season, now has two equally strong, willing and athletic allies in Tony Cascarino and George Lawrence.

As early as the second minute Lawrence got on the end of a Sean Sparham cross for a bullet header that was brilliantly saved low down, Banks-like, by Tony Godden.

Young full-back Sparham, commendably two-footed and adding a welcome area of composure in the cauldron, was unhappily at fault when Birmingham took a shock fourth-minute read through Tony Rees. 

Millwall merely stepped on the gas. Sheringham chipped just wide; Godden palmed away a curling Cascarino shot and Sheringham just failed to make a proper connection with a Lawrence cross just under the bar. Godden pulled off another incredible save from a venomous header, Cascarino's this time, but the ball went to Lawrence, whose first-time shot found the net for the equaliser, through a crowd of players in the 33rd minute. 

made for a curiously quiet opening ten minutes to the second half.

But things soon livened tip again and Lawrence, definitely the main man with the home fans, brought another fine save from Godden following a lovely little set-up by Sheringham.

All the while Terry Warlock -sorry Hurlock - was adding delightfully deft touches to his more obvious qualities. And it was his quickly-taken free kick - agonisingly dropped by the admirable Godden -that enabled Alan Walker to tap Millwall in front. 

Keith Stevens, up for Lawrence's drilled-in corner, headed a superb third in the final minute to give the scoreline a more realistic look. We all had to catch our breaths as we left the scene. Millwall could make it to the First Division and there a lot of excitement on the way.

Millwall: Horne Stevens, Walker, Wood, Sparham, Hurlock, Briley, Salman, Sheringham, Lawrence, Cascarino,