Super sub David Martin stepped off the bench to blast home a sizzling 74th-minute free-kick as Millwall sent Stockport County spinning to their first away league defeat since April.
Last week at Chester boss Kenny Jackett's use of substitutes paid off handsomely, and Saturday's Den clash was no different.
The introduction of Martin and Gary Alexander on 62 minutes for Chris Hackett and Tresor Kandol again proved decisive with Martin's 20-yard rocket settling a frustrating match.
Credit should go to both teams for trying their best to produce some free-flowing football, but officious referee Iain Williamson had other ideas and between blowing his whistle, managed to find enough time to draw breath and book nine players.
In a game punctuated by free-kicks, Jackett's men got their just reward for their patient approach to move up to third in the table, only edged out of an automatic promotion spot by Leicester City's superior goal difference.
Before the game all the talk had been about Teddy Sheringham's goal-scoring and within 13 seconds, Neil Harris came within a whisker of grabbing a record-equalling 111th goal for Millwall.
Picking up a sublime through ball from Marc Laird, Chopper cut in and hit a fierce angled drive that Owen fon Williams did superbly to parry at full stretch.
Stockport threatened on eight minutes when Anthony Pilkington smacked the underside of the bar from 20 yards. Thankfully Lions keeper David Forde reacted swiftly and did well to block Craig Davies' follow-up shot for a corner.
It was easy to see why County have proved so successful on their travels, and like Jackett's Lions, at times they produced some slick attacking patterns of play but with no end product.
Excellent defensive blocks from Paul Robinson and then Tony Craig averted a couple of close-range County efforts, whilst at the other end Grabban's curler was comfortably held by fon Williams after Adam Bolder had played a short free-kick to the winger.
Millwall's best chance of the half came five minutes before the break when Kandol's determination enabled the big striker to whip in a tantalising cross from the left. The ball curled over the bar but remained in play and Grabban picked it up on the right. His dinked delivery picked out Laird, and the midfielder's goal-bound header was somehow touched onto the post by the fingertips of fon Williams.
Stockport striker Davies was lucky to escape a red card in first-half injury time. Having been spoken to three times by the official, Davies was finally booked for a raking 38th-minute challenge on Tony Craig.
But when he lunged in with an awful tackle on Laird seconds before the break, ref Williamson inexplicably delivered yet another lecture and nothing further was said after he shoved Frampton into touch on the stroke of half-time.
The fact that Davies did not appear for the second half and was replaced by Matty McNeil was an action that spoke louder than any words could.
Within two minutes of the restart Kandol flicked the ball on to Harris, but he fired over with only the keeper to beat.
Stockport's Pilkington then forced Forde into action with a cross-shot that looked to be creeping in under the bar until The Lions keeper flicked over for a corner.
Harris, who worked tirelessly throughout, thought he had equalled Sheringham's all-time scoring record after 50 minutes. Laird's ball found Grabban and he in turn saw his shot parried by the keeper. The rebound fell to Chopper and with the Cold Blow Lane end all but sucking the ball into the back of the net, James Tunnicliffe got a boot to the ball to clear off the line.
The introduction of Martin and Alexander just past the hour mark enabled the former to revert to his prefered position on the right flank, with Martin slotting in on the left.
And it was Martin who finally scored what proved to be the winning goal with 16 minutes remaining. Harris was fouled on the edge of the area and up stepped former Dartford and Palace wide man Martin to crack home an unstoppable shot.
Martin clearly likes playing at The Den - all five of his goals for Millwall have come on home soil - and all in Lions wins!
Stockport had vociferous appeals for a penalty turned down with 12 minutes remaining when Grabban seemed to make more contact with a County player than the ball.
Jackett's men could have added further goals in the final 10 minutes. Alexander's deft flick took him past Dominic Blizzard on the right and his cross was met by Harris at the near post, but his neat flick was held by fon Williams.
On 85 minutes man-on-a-mission Harris latched onto a sloppy cross-field pass and charged towards goal but couldn't find enough space to squeeze in a shot and instead squared for Martin who fired over.
It took a superbly timed tackle from Craig to nick the ball off the toes of County Peter Thompson in the dying moments as the sub broke free in the area.
But despite four minutes of injury time, the visitors were unable to get any closer to grabbing an equaliser and it was The Lions who held firm for a sixth home win in seven games.

Millwall: Forde, Dunne, Frampton, Laird, Robinson, Craig, Grabban (Spiller, 88mins), Bolder, Harris, Kandol (Alexander, 62mins), Hackett (Martin, 62mins). Subs not used: Edwards, Bignot.
Bookings: Grabban (28mins), Frampton (41mins), Craig (82mins), Martin (90+1mins)
Scorer: Martin (74mins)

Stockport County: Fon Williams, Blizzard, McNulty, Pilkington (Baker, 56mins), Rowe, Raynes (Thompson, 82mins), Tunnicliffe, Turnbull, McSweeney, Davis (McNeil, 46mins). Subs not used: Dicker, Rigby.
Bookings: Blizzard (34mins), Davies (38mins), fon Williams (51mins), McSweeney (69mins), Tunnicliffe (90+3mins)

Ref: Iain Williamson
Att: 9,030 (away 501)