Although Lady Luck hasn't been smiling on Millwall lately, the Lions have still managed to pick up five points from their first six games, which is just one point less than their total at this time last season.

The match at Sheffield United in midweek was a case in point, with the Lions making the most promising attacks before falling behind to Carl Asaba's goal in the 76th minute.

That breakthrough was created by the outstanding make-shift left-winger Michael Tonge, who cut inside seven minutes later to get on the scoresheet himself.

Millwall's Paul Ifill was equally magnificent, and capped a virtuoso performance with a fine individual goal.

But just as Millwall began staging a comeback, substitute Peter Ndlovu ended the Lions' hopes with the Blades' third goal in injury time.

It seemed as if Millwall's wretched luck was set to continue on Saturday against Grimsby, when referee Grant Hegley disallowed what looked like a perfectly good goal from Neil Harris, when he volleyed home Ifill's chipped pass.

However, the Lions' frayed nerves were settled when Steve Claridge intercepted a poor back pass from Steve Chettle to put Millwall ahead after just six minutes.

Set up by Ifill, Harris came very close to breaking his scoring duck this season, with a curled effort which cannoned off the post in the 16th minute.

Although Millwall were troubled by Steve Kabba's pace, Grimsby 4-5-1 system didn't help the opposition to penetrate the Lions defence.

Despite all their possession, Grimsby's final ball often let them down, and their laboured passing game was no match for Millwall's one-touch football and attacking 4-3-3 formation.

This was in evidence when the Lions counter-attacked at blistering speed to register their second goal.

Matt Lawrence cleverly found Ifill, whose raking pass picked out David Livermore on the left. Tim Cahill's volley from the resulting cross was parried by Welsh international keeper Danny Coyne, only for Claridge to pounce on the rebound converting from an acute angle on the hour-mark.

After the 2-0 win, Millwall boss Mark McGhee said: "I'm not going to be kidded by our win as our performance was unconvincing. I know that was partly because Grimsby made it difficult, in that they had nine men behind the ball.

"Although Grimsby passed the ball in areas where they couldn't hurt us, it frustrated us a little bit.

"Our display was still a little bit stop-start, so we've still got a long way to go to get back to anything like our best.

"I've said it other weeks, when we've lost, that I wasn't losing sleep because we were working hard and that was more important. It's the same now.

"At the moment, we're still struggling to get back to our best and we were at home against another team who, like us, are struggling. So we'd expect to win that one on balance.

"I felt for a few weeks that we needed a target man and youngter Ben May has done ever so well.

"I tried to give Claridge a slightly different role by trying to take pressure off him having to score often by allowing him to be the deeper striker, encouraging Paul Ifill and Neil Harris to be the most advanced. Yet it's Claridge who ends up getting the two goals, so you can't argue with that.

"Claridge can teach our younger players a thing or two. He made good runs, got on the end of the ball, and caused Grimsby all sorts of problems.

"Playing with Claridge in matches and in training will benefit the likes of May. If he even just learns to mimic the runs that Claridge does, then he'll become a good player."

Millwall entertain newly-promoted Brighton at the New Den on Saturday at 3pm.