Erol Bulut questioned Cardiff’s mentality after an “unacceptable” second-half performance in their 3-1 defeat against Millwall at The Den.

Jake Cooper’s volley put the Lions in front at the break after Michael Obafemi and Yakou Meite traded goals during an entertaining first half.

However, Neil Harris’ side controlled the second half, limiting the Bluebirds to scraps before Duncan Watmore made sure of things in stoppage time with a cool finish past Ethan Horvath.

The result lifts Millwall into 16th, six points clear of the relegation zone, while Cardiff are now 11th with three games remaining.

And Bulut insists his side need to show a winning mentality in their remaining games.

“Millwall at home are a good team, they are working and fighting and I was satisfied with the first half, but with the second half, I have no words for the second half,” he said.

“Nobody can tell me ‘two days before we had a game and we were tired’, Millwall also played a few days ago.

“The main thing is the mentality, how you go in the game, if you want to change this game, if you want to win this game, what you are expecting from yourself individually.

“I can speak only to my players, but the mentality on the field has to change, especially in the second half.

“Consistency is the biggest problem that we have this season. If it was a little bit different then we would be speaking now about different things.

“It was like day and night. In the first half it was clear that the better team was Cardiff but we conceded two goals and the second half was not acceptable.

“If you have these small mistakes in your game then it is difficult to come back.”

The win is a huge boost for relegation-threatened Millwall and Harris believes his side are proving a lot of people wrong.

“Every man and his dog wanted to tell me that these lads can’t play at The Den,” Harris said.

“They do know how to play at The Den and it was a big thing for me to try and galvanise the football club and bring the terrace and the pitch together.

“It’s down to the players when they go on the pitch, so they take the credit and the praise for it.

“Tuesday night against Leicester was a monumental performance from the players and a special evening, but in some ways I’m more pleased with today because to back it up with such a comprehensive performance is testament to the group’s mentality.

“We looked a lot more confident today with the ball and I think if we had scored the third goal at the start of the second half we could have gone on to score four or five.

“It’s important for the football club to stay at this level.”

Millwall’s secured a second successive Sky Bet Championship victory as they eased their relegation worries with a 3-1 win at home to Cardiff.

Jake Cooper’s volley had given the Lions a 2-1 half-time lead after Michael Obafemi and Yakou Meite had traded goals.

And Neil Harris’ side refused to feel the pressure, with Duncan Watmore making sure of victory in stoppage time.

Ryan Longman, who scored the winner against promotion-chasing Leicester in midweek, produced a dangerous delivery that forced a crucial intervention from Dimitrios Goutas during an entertaining start to proceedings at The Den.

Then, in the ninth minute, Burnley loanee Obafemi’s powerful strike beat goalkeeper Ethan Horvath at his near post to score his second goal since arriving in January.

Cardiff captain Joe Ralls took aim from the edge of the box as the visitors looked to get back on level terms, but his shot was straight at Matija Sarkic.

However, it was 1-1 in the 24th minute when Meite nodded Rubin Colwill’s free-kick into the bottom corner from point-blank range.

Will Finnie waved away Zian Flemming’s penalty appeal after the Dutchman went down inside the area, much to the disgust of Millwall’s vocal home supporters.

The Bluebirds had the chance to add insult to injury in the 43rd minute, but Nat Phillips dragged his strike from the centre of the box wide of the right-hand post.

The hosts had the final say of the half, though, with Lions skipper Cooper firing home a thunderous volley after an intelligent flick-on from Longman.

Horvath made two excellent saves in the space of 10 minutes after the break as Millwall looked to double their lead.

First he denied Longman after the Hull loanee let fly with a left-footed shot from outside the box, and then got down quickly to push Obafemi’s goal-bound effort behind for a corner.

Cooper had the chance to give his side some breathing room from a set-piece in the 62nd minute, only to fire his left-footed strike wide of the right-hand upright.

At the other end, Ralls tried again from range only to see his attempt saved by Sarkic before Cian Ashford caused chaos in the Lions box with a powerful cutback towards the penalty spot.

Flemming almost made sure of things with five minutes remaining, but Horvath was up to the task once again.

Cardiff pushed for an equaliser in the final 10 minutes, but Brooke Norton-Cuffy put Watmore through on goal in stoppage time and he prodded the ball past Horvath to secure a crucial win for Millwall.

Tottenham loanee Japhet Tanganga is turning himself into a hero under Millwall manager Neil Harris after his late header snatched a crucial victory over fellow Sky Bet Championship strugglers Birmingham.

It was a second goal in Lions colours for Tanganga, 24, who scored the first goal of his senior career in Harris’ first game back in charge at Southampton two weeks ago.

Millwall have now won three of their four games under Harris, who has quickly turned around their form to open up a five-point gap between them and the relegation zone.

Harris said: “Japh’s got great pedigree, he’s got a great CV in terms of games at the top level and playing in Europe, and things like that.

“It’s slightly different here for a centre-half and sometimes you have to be a different player here, and the reason I’m at the football club is to try and teach the players what a Millwall player looks like, whether that’s a goalkeeper or a centre-half or a centre-forward.

“All I said to Japh was – not complicated his game – just to make your decisions and I’ll support you, but you can be as aggressive as you like.

“A couple of his tackles were a little bit dubious here against Watford and away at Southampton in the first five minutes, but he shows that he’s buying into it.

“Ultimately, he’s headed the ball a lot (in both boxes) and to be a good Millwall centre-half you have to do that.”

Millwall started the better side, with Birmingham goalkeeper John Ruddy having to make good saves to deny George Honeyman and Jake Cooper in the first 20 minutes.

Jay Stansfield was then denied by Matija Sarkic just before half-time and hit a great chance wide early in the second half.

He then felt he should have been awarded a penalty after 63 minutes when Millwall’s Joe Bryan appeared to hold him back from Juninho Bacuna’s corner.

The Lions wildly celebrated when their winner came in the 90th minute as Tanganga rose to head in George Saville’s corner.

Birmingham remain only one point above the bottom three and caretaker boss Mark Venus has just one point from four games since taking the reins after manager Tony Mowbray temporarily stepped aside for medical reasons.

Venus, whose side could drop below third-from-bottom Huddersfield if they beat West Brom on Sunday, said on the Blues’ penalty shout: “I don’t want to sit here and pick holes in officials.

“They are what they are in this country and I’m sure everyone has their own opinion of them.

“Everyone has their own opinion of what happened, the incident, and they can make their own mind up.

“I think in the second half we got on top.

“I think in the first half we were too timid, we didn’t influence, we didn’t hurt their goal enough and I think in the second half we had a lot more purpose, more intensity.

“We took the game to them and we had some opportunities to hit the target, to score, to shoot, and we squandered them, really.

“I think they’ve got the stomach for the fight – they showed that in the second half.

“I think they just have to learn to do the basics a bit better and learn to make the right decisions.”

David Wagner criticised his Norwich players for ‘losing their heads’ and ‘doing everything wrong’ as they slipped to a second consecutive 1-0 defeat in a fiery Championship clash at 10-man Millwall.

Tom Bradshaw grabbed the decisive strike in the first half at a rocking Den as the Canaries were unable to convert sustained spells of possession into clear-cut chances.

Millwall saw George Saville shown a late red card for a cynical lunge on Jonathan Rowe after Ashley Barnes and Jake Cooper had both been booked for a pair of hot-headed altercations.

Norwich had winger Borja Sainz sent off at West Brom on Boxing Day and “angry” boss Wagner insists his team’s discipline proved fatal once again under the Friday night lights.

Wagner, whose side now sit five points away from the play-off places, said: “It was just not good enough – it was a deserved defeat at the end of the day.

“It was intense but you have to be calm, do your stuff and play football – not get dragged into the situation and get the crowd on their side.

“We’ve done more or less everything wrong when you play here, especially at Millwall away, we fought with them more than we played and we played into their cards.

“Our experienced players know exactly what it’s about here, but we lost our head and this is what makes me really angry.

“How we started, we were able to get something out of this game.

“It’s frustrating and disappointing – we started well, were good and created our moments.

“Then we conceded after a counter and totally lost the focus. We didn’t play in the right areas and never really went forward in the right areas.”

City started brightly as Barnes shot straight at Matija Sarkic and Hwang Ui-jo fired wide of the post.

But it was the hosts who took the lead in the 18th minute when Bradshaw slid in from close range after Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s inviting low delivery across the face of goal.

Angus Gunn pulled off a brilliant pair of acrobatic saves to deny both Zian Flemming and Aidomo Emakhu either side of the break.

Tempers flared on the hour mark when Barnes and Cooper were booked and the atmosphere in Bermondsey reached boiling point.

Gunn once again kept City in it with a flying stop to deny Ryan Longman before Saville saw red with two minutes remaining for a challenge on a rampaging Rowe.

Millwall are now unbeaten in four after back-to-back wins and sit eight points clear of the Championship drop zone.

Boss Joe Edwards said: “That was a pleasure to be a part of.

“It hadn’t been what it should be at The Den so it was one of the big objectives to put it right.

“It took a bit longer than we would have liked – we want a certain atmosphere and energy from the fans but it’s our job to create that.

“The fans could see from the off that our desire and energy was there, it was what we wanted to be.

“It was very difficult for Norwich to play and when it got heated in the second half, it kicked everyone on even more.

“When we then go down to 10 and we have to ride it out, the fans have to help us get through that – it was a brilliant night for us.

“Millwall away is not a fixture people look forward to playing in. We want to add an element of control and quality to our game in possession, but we don’t want to do that at the cost of that fight and aggression.”

Callum Brittain’s first goal for Blackburn earned his side a third straight win in the Championship as they came from behind to defeat managerless Millwall 2-1 at The Den.

It certainly was not the finish of a man who had not previously struck since signing from Barnsley last year, but it enabled Jon Dahl Tomasson’s team to seal the points.

This was Millwall’s first home game since the departure of Gary Rowett six days ago, and his former charges are now winless in three.

They were, however, ahead in only the third minute when Jake Cooper kept alive Joe Bryan’s free-kick, allowing Wes Harding to get in a fairly tame header on goal.

It was one that Blackburn goalkeeper Leopold Wahlstedt somehow allowed to run in through his legs and give Harding his first Lions goal since his summer move from Rotherham.

Another goalkeeping clanger then gifted the visitors an equaliser after 22 minutes when Joe Rankin-Costello played a one-two with Brittain before his shot squirmed under Bartosz Bialkowski and trickled in.

Rovers almost completed the turnaround just after the half-hour when Dominic Hyam’s ball across was flicked goalwards by Harry Pickering, but Bialkowski this time got down to save.

Blackburn looked the more likely to move ahead in the remainder of the half, but the two teams went into the break level in the score and level when it came to errors by the men between the sticks.

Parity was broken six minutes into the second half when James Hill’s pass put Brittain into space and he was able to advance into the area before bending a superb finish into the top corner to put the visitors ahead.

Millwall responded well, however, and were almost level within three minutes as Tom Bradshaw’s header needed to be pushed over the bar by Wahlstedt.

Blackburn then should have moved further in front in the 59th minute when substitute Andrew Moran was put through by Rankin-Costello, only to be denied by Bialkowski, who then clawed away Sammie Szmodics’ header moments later.

Still in the hunt, the Lions again came close to equalising when Romain Esse’s chipped ball into the box was flicked wide by Cooper’s head.

Then from George Honeyman’s corner, Bradshaw flicked the ball on, but the sliding Harding was unable to turn it home at the back post.

Bialkowski then continued to keep the hosts alive, when he did brilliantly to tip Szmodics’ effort onto the bar after Blackburn’s top scorer had been teed up by Tyrhys Dolan, but Brittain’s super strike was enough to claim the points.