text: If Wigan Athletic are to be relegated from the Sky Bet Championship, then their new manager Gary Caldwell would want to see them go down kicking and screaming. Martyn Waghorn took that a little too literally against Millwall, his red card for a senseless kick at Dan Harding punished by a Lions side determined to avoid a similar fate. When Waghorn, who played for Millwall on loan from Leicester in 2013, lashed out after failing to win a corner on the hour, it was set up for the hosts to claim three precious points. And they were duly delivered when Jimmy Abdou headed home Harding’s cross with 15 minutes remaining, sending a febrile Den into raptures. Millwall team-mates rush to congratulate substitute Magaye Gueye after he scored their second goal . Lions No 1 David Forde celebrates after Jimmy Abdou came on to break the deadlock with a rare strike . Martyn Waghorn was one of three players sent off - two for Wigan and one for Millwall in the fiesty clash . Millwall: Forde (c); Cummings, Nelson, Beevers, Harding; Upson, Abdou, Williams (Bailey 42), Martin (Gueye 68); O’Brien (Woolford 84), Gregory . Substitutes not used: Archer (GK); Cowan-Hall, Fuller, Taylor-Fletcher . Scorers: Abdou 75; Gueye 90+3 . Booked: Gregory, Martin, Bailey, Beevers . Sent off: Upson . Wigan Athletic: Carson; Boyce, Maguire, Pearce, Bong; Pennant (Chow 81), Perch (c), Kvist (Ojo 90+1), Kim Bo-Kyung, McLean; Fortune (Waghorn 53) Substitutes not used: Al Habsi (GK); McCann, Barnett, Murphy . Booked: Bong, Bo-Kyung . Sent off: Waghorn, Pearson . Referee: Stephen Martin (Staffordshire) In his six seasons at the club, that was only Abdou’s seventh goal. What a time for it. The official Millwall Twitter account reassured followers it wasn’t a misprint. There was more drama to follow. Jason Pearce followed Waghorn down the tunnel for a dreadful tackle on Aiden O’Brien as tempers flared in the closing stages, with Millwall’s Ed Upson also dismissed for his reaction. The game had threatened to erupt all night. There were two confrontations in the first-half, with Caldwell and his Millwall counterpart Neil Harris on the edge of their technical areas appealing for calm. And a second goal from Magaye Gueye in the third minute of stoppage time made absolutely sure, the substitute leading a breakaway on his own before finishing calmly past Carson. Millwall’s win keeps the Championship relegation battle very much alive and throws the pressure onto Rotherham United, who face Fulham on Wednesday night. The plot could also thicken further if Rotherham are docked three points for fielding an ineligible player in their win over Brighton earlier this month. Hope is still very much alive in south London after this, the gap closed to just four points. Harris had described this match as a ‘Cup Final’ and his players responded. Snapping into every challenge, first to every ball, they wanted it more than Caldwell’s men. Wigan's former Arsenal and Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant (left) takes on Dan Harding of Millwall . Millwall's Aiden O'Brien (left) competes with Emmerson Boyce of Wigan during the relegation six-pointer . The Lions manager proudly declared afterwards: ‘That was a Millwall performance, that’s what this club is all about. If the players haven’t learned anything from me before tonight, they certainly have now. ‘I don’t necessarily condone challenges and melees but if you need a spark at The Den, then you have to take care of your own.’ And he couldn’t resist a joke at the expense of Abdou’s scoring record after his first goal in two years. ‘Jimmy Abdou is a great fellow, a great servant to Millwall FC,’ he said. ‘If anyone deserved that goal for his performances since I took over. He has the ability to do that and I’ve been telling him for seven years he can do that. ‘He’s got the ability in the legs, I think his last goal was in training about three and a half years ago!’ With Wigan seven points from safety, Millwall’s approach left manager Gary Caldwell irritated. He said: ‘There was one team out there trying to play football and another trying to rough us up. ‘The game got out of hand second-half, we needed a strong ref in a stadium like this.’ Wigan’s James McClean rattled the outside of the post with a cross-cum-shot that almost caught goalkeeper David Forde out after five minutes, while at the other end, Scott Carson had to race off his line to thwart Aiden O’Brien when he broke clear. But overall the first-half was a poor spectacle, enlivened only by the handbags that engaged the crowd. Wigan's James Perch (right) goes up for a header with Millwall midfielder Shaun Williams . Wigan manager Gary Caldwell looks on nervously as his hopes of survival are dented . Within the first five minutes of the second-half, Millwall created more than their sum total in the first. Former England stopper Carson had to be at his athletic best to turn away an O’Brien shot that seemed destined for the top corner. And when thew red mist descended on Waghorn, there was only one winner. It coincided with Millwall’s best spell in the game and they capitalised when Abdou produced his potentially season-defining header. After Gueye made sure at the end, chants of ‘Super Neil Harris’ echoed around the ground. Is another heroic act from this club legend on the cards?
target: Millwall won their relegation six-pointer with 2-0 victory over Wigan .
  Latics substitute Martyn Waghorn was sent off for senseless kick .
  Nadjim Abdou scored the opening goal for the Lions on 74minutes .
  Visitors were reduced to nine-men when James Pearson was sent off for fighting along with Millwall's Ed Upson .
  Another substitute Magaye Gueye sealed victory with an injury time strike .