Back row (left to right): John Marquis, Grant Ludford, Luke Bartlett, Connor French, Jamie Farmer, Phil Stevenson, Omar Beckles, Aiden O'Brien, Jake Goodman.
Front row (left to right): Connor McLaren, Keirnan Hughes-Mason, Kamil Tefvik, Liam Kingsmill, Jimmy Rogers, Hassan Janneh, David Adedipe.
Millwall's U18s were crowned Football League Youth Alliance South East Conference champions following a comprehensive 3-0 success at rivals Southend United.
Scott Fitzgerald's charges pipped Brighton & HA for the title, and will be aiming to sign off the season in style with an away win at Wycombe Wanderers this Saturday.
This was a cagey and tense first half in which both teams, due to the magnitude of the match, worked hard to not give anything away.
The early stages of the match saw Millwall exerting pressure on the home defence but some fairly robust defending and blocks kept The Lions at bay.
Fitzgerald's side forced several corners and free-kicks around the Southend penalty area during this period but resolute defending denied them any breakthrough.
Hassan Janneh, Jimmy Rogers, Kamil Tevfik and John Marquis all had good efforts on goal blocked whilst Southend's best chance came when an over hit cross into the Lions area clipped the crossbar.
Millwall had a good claim for a penalty kick on 20 minutes when Connor McLaren was brought down in the Southend penalty area only for play to be waved on.
Connor French saw his low drive pushed away for a corner following good work by Keirnan Hughes-Mason and Rogers and in Millwall's next attack Hughes-Mason watched his 20-yard strike curl away from the goal after a knock-down into his path by Marquis.
Millwall's persistence finally paid off after the break.
There were 62 minutes on the clock when a quick Rogers free-kick picked out sub David Adedipe, who in turn held off his marker and steered the ball past goalkeeper Dan Bentley with the help of a slight deflection just five minutes after entering the fray.
Whereas the first half had been an evenly fought contest, the second period was definitely swinging Millwall's way.
Minutes after the first goal Grant Ludford let fly with a left-footer which fizzed over the bar but the best was still to come.
On 78 minutes Tevfik broke up an attack in the middle of the park and played the perfect pass that Marquis took in his stride, then shrugged off his marker and fired a low drive past the keeper and into the far corner of the net.
Less than 60 seconds later Lions goalkeeper Jamie Farmer made a vital save from George Smith, thus denying Southend a real chance of getting back into the match with 10 minutes still to play.
The game was effectively sealed in Millwall's favour on 83 minutes when Tevfik's drive had too much power for keeper Bentley, who was unable to prevent the ball crossing the line.
The Lions could have added to their tally in the dying moments when substitute Aiden O'Brien went close with two chances. His first, scooping Adedipe's cross straight into the hands of Bentley and then firing narrowly wide from a fine Marquis pass.
Team: Farmer, McLaren, Ludford, Tevfik (Stevenson, 85mins.) Beckles, Goodman, Rogers, Janneh, Marquis, Hughes-Mason (O'Brien, 79mins) French (Adedipe, 57mins). Subs not used: Bartlett, Kingsmill.
