Late Ronald winner keeps Swansea top with Millwall win
Late Ronald winner keeps Swansea top with Millwall win

Substitute Ronald scored a last-minute winner to keep Swansea top of the Championship after their match at Millwall was held up for almost seven minutes due to a complaint about racist chanting at The Den.

Match halted over racist chanting complaint

Referee Edward Duckworth halted the match in the 65th minute and walked to the dug-outs to speak with Lions boss Alex Neil, Swans counterpart Vitor Matos and fourth official Ruebyn Ricardo. A security guard was also on the scene, with referee Duckworth seeming to point to an area in the stands behind the Swansea dug-out.

When play eventually resumed it was announced in the stadium that there had been a report of racist chanting, adding that police were working to identify any offenders using CCTV. But the unsavoury incident could not take the gloss off a dramatic last-gasp 1-0 victory for the table-toppers.

Swansea's defensive resilience

Swansea arrived in south London with the best defensive record in the division and they showed why as Millwall dominated the first half. The Lions should have gone ahead after 10 minutes when Mark Sykes crossed low to Kyrell Lisbie, who looked set for a tap-in until Filip Lissah made a last-ditch tackle.

Moments later Jenson Metcalfe thought he was through on goal but this time on-loan Sunderland defender Jenson Seelt, making his first Swans start, got back to make a vital challenge. A neat flick from Lyndon Dykes then teed up Sykes six yards out but Swans goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux made a fine save.

Vigouroux then came for and missed a Metcalfe corner, but Jordi Osei-Tutu's header was deflected onto the roof of the net. Swansea managed just one shot on target in a one-sided first half, a tame effort from Zan Vipotnik which was easily dealt with by Lions keeper Filip Marschall.

Second-half improvement and late drama

The visitors got a sniff of a chance early in the second half after Derek Mazou-Sacko was booked for a foul on Moussa Yeo, but Josh Tymon sent the free-kick over the crossbar. Lions captain Jake Cooper then had to hack Joseph Opoku's shot off the line before Yeo fired narrowly over as the leaders began to exert more authority.

Vipotnik slipped in Yeo but Cooper was on hand to make a timely interception, before Mazou-Sacko made another goal-line clearance to deny Ross Stewart. After the delay in play, Millwall searched for a winner and Vigouroux made a point-blank save to deny Dykes and Tristan Crama headed the resulting corner over.

But Swansea nicked it at the death when Opoku crossed, Millwall hesitated and Brazilian winger Ronald crashed home the winner.