Danny Dichio celebrated making his loan deal permanent by firing Millwall into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time in 19 years with the winner
against battling Burnley.
The Clarets were reduced to 10 men when Paul Weller was sent off for violent conduct in a venomous fifth- round tie at the New Den.
Referee Howard Webb struggled to contain the festering ill-feeling between the sides as Dennis Wise fought a running battle with Burnley midfielder Tony Grant,
and was left with no option but to dismiss substitute Weller for an incident involving the Millwall player-manager with 17 minutes left.
But Dichio's sixth goal in five games, and first since Millwall agreed a fee rising to £675,000 for him with West Brom, had by then settled this bad-tempered
tie in the home side's favour, stretching their unbeaten run to seven matches.
Richard Chaplow almost profited from a Glen Little chip which sliced through the home defence with less than two minutes on the clock, but his header missed
the far post by inches.
Visiting forward Ian Moore incensed the home fans with a push on defender Matt Lawrence but referee Webb kept his cards to himself despite vociferous Millwall protests and a shoving contest between players from both sides.
However Webb had no option but to book Grant for clattering into Wise from behind moments later, and from the resulting free-kick, Paul Ifill forced
Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen into an acrobatic save with a terrific volley.
Dichio then headed over the crossbar and his improvised stab from a Wise free-kick was deflected wide before Lions keeper Willy Gueret pulled off a fine save one-on-one with Moore, who should have done better.
Millwall dominated the latter stages of the half, with Neil Harris and Tim Cahill going close, but the visitors remained a constant menace on the break despite Grant treading a fine line with fouls on Ifill and Wise.
Wise got his revenge early in the second half with a late foul on the Clarets midfielder, but earned a yellow card as a result, and was soon clattered moments
later by Neil Wood, who also went into the book.
When the sides concentrated on football again, Ifill cracked a sharp drive off the crossbar in the 58th minute after neat work just inside the box before Dichio sent the home fans wild with his headed goal on 70 minutes.
Full-back Kevin Muscat whipped in a right-wing cross for Dichio to finish decisively from close range and Burnley self-destructed when substitute Weller was sent off for raising his arms to Wise barely 11 minutes after coming on.
Late saves by Jensen from substitutes Peter Sweeney and Kevin Braniff were damage limitation, but Little and substitute Alan Moore both had chances to snatch a replay in the dying moments before Braniff wasted a clear chance to
make sure for the Lions.
Teams
Millwall: Gueret, Muscat, Lawrence, Ward, Ryan (Sweeney 71),
Ifill, Cahill, Wise, Livermore, Harris (Braniff 61), Dichio.
Subs Not Used: Marshall, McCammon, Roberts.
Booked: Wise, Dichio.
Goals: Dichio 70.
Burnley: Jensen, Roche (Chadwick 77), McGregor (Alan Moore 85),
May, Camara, Little, Grant, Chaplow, Wood, Blake (Weller 62),
Ian Moore.
Subs Not Used: Rachubka, Orr.
Sent Off: Weller (73).
Booked: Grant, Wood.
Att: 10,420
Ref: H Webb (S Yorkshire).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook