Neil Harris paid tribute to the squad he inherited for ensuring Millwall will be playing Sky Bet Championship football again next season.

The Lions guaranteed their place in the second tier courtesy of a third straight win delivered by Duncan Watmore’s 71st-minute strike against former club Sunderland.

The forward pounced at the near post to turn in Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s delivery and that proved enough to earn a vital three points for Millwall.

Harris praised all of his players, having seen the team deliver six victories in his first 11 matches in charge to climb away from the relegation zone.

Harris said: “Both teams can be disappointed with how we handled it at times. It became a typical game of football in April.

“We came with a clean-sheet mentality. We wanted an attacking threat but the important thing was to have a clean sheet. We needed a moment to score a goal.

“I’m delighted for the players. We had resilience, desire, all the Millwall traits.

“I couldn’t have envisaged being here in this position seven weeks ago when I took over. To win six games out of 11 is a great achievement to reach my demands.

“My job was to galvanise the football club. I did the first one and hopefully now we have done the second.”

Sunderland already knew what division they would be playing in next season but this was the sixth game without a win at the Stadium of Light.

The Black Cats have failed to score in four of those matches, with interim boss Michael Dodds admitting that work needs to be done on the transfer front to improve that next season.

He said: “We knew the first goal would be important. We changed the shape slightly to have more attackers on the pitch.

“A by-product of that was Millwall waiting for one moment. They put so many bodies behind the ball and we knew that one moment would be so crucial. I’m angry because we emptied the middle of the pitch and they scored on transition.

“But we didn’t work the goal enough either, we weren’t clever enough or quick enough in the top third of the pitch. Those are the main frustrations.

“The top area of the pitch is where we are trying to find solutions, to try to be more of a threat.

“I’ve got two more games and it won’t be solved in the next two games. I have tweaked, tinkered, tried to find solutions in that area, but it’s obvious we need to do some work around.

“We will keep working with the group to find those solutions.”

Jack Clarke’s penalty denied Joe Edwards his first home win as Millwall manager and rescued a 1-1 draw for Sunderland at The Den.

Kevin Nisbet gave the hosts a deserved lead after an energetic first half in South London.

However, Clarke equalised from the penalty spot with 12 minutes left, much to the delight of the travelling Sunderland supporters behind the goal.

Arsenal loanee Brooke Norton-Cuffy had the first shot on target of the match but his tame effort was straight down the throat of Anthony Patterson in the Sunderland goal.

The home fans were calling for a red card after a crunching challenge from Mason Burstow but the forward escaped with a booking.

Millwall won a corner a minute later but Jake Cooper could not get any power behind his header and Patterson caught it with ease.

The Lions were growing into the game and with 10 minutes left of the first half, Norton-Cuffy whipped a superb ball across goal.

Zian Flemming could not get on the end of it but it was a sign of what was to come.

Ryan Leonard fired a sensational long-range effort just wide of the bottom-left post and George Saville forced Patterson into action as the hosts continued to push for the opener.

It finally came on the stroke of half-time when Nisbet tapped the ball past Patterson after another fantastic delivery from Norton-Cuffy.

Sunderland won a free-kick four minutes after half-time but they could not get a touch on Adil Aouchiche’s solid delivery.

The ball eventually fell to Abdoullah Ba but his strike went well wide of Millwall’s goal.

It could have been 2-0 in the 57th minute when confusion in the Sunderland defence set Norton-Cuffy free down the right wing but he scuffed his cut-back and the attack petered out.

The Black Cats had an excellent chance to equalise after a dangerous run from Clarke but Bradley Dack stabbed the ball wide from close range.

Patterson produced a phenomenal save moments later to deny Tom Bradshaw, whose curling effort seemed destined for the bottom-right corner.

Clarke had come alive down the left wing and just as the game seemed to be slipping away from Sunderland, he won a penalty before coolly converting it to get his side back on level terms.

Bradshaw could have restored Millwall’s lead after being put through on goal but another top-quality stop from Patterson kept the score at 1-1.

He finally found the back of the net at the third time of asking but the forward was judged to have been offside and both sides had to settle for a point.