Cheltenham Town slipped to a narrow defeat at Millwall's New Den this afternoon.
Danny Spiller took advantage of an error by goalkeeper Shane Higgs, on the stroke of half time, to hand the south Londoners their first win of the season.
It was an entertaining enough game, despite the relative lack of goal mouth action. 
Aside the goal, the home side had only one real chance of note inside a minute of the contest.
And Cheltenham could have returned from the capital with a point had Shane Duff's 82nd minute header not come back off the woodwork.
But there were plenty of positives for John Ward's side, who matched one of the pre-season favourites for promotion for long periods of the game.
Central defender Michael Townsend returned to the line-up after missing the first two games of the season through injury. He replaced Andy Gallinagh, who stepped down to the bench.
Steven Gillespie, who missed the midweek Carling Cup match at Southend United through suspension, and Ashley Vincent also returned to the starting team and loan signing Jennison Myrie-Williams, unavailable for the Southend game, was given a place on the bench.
Millwall squandered their only clear-cut chance of the contest with barely a minute on the clock.
Dave Brammer lifted a free-kick to the back post, which Alan Dunne headed back across goal but Ben May somehow glanced it wide from a couple of yards with the net gaping.
Shane Higgs dived to his right to deny Ryan Smith and Neil Harris blasted over, both from distance, in a keenly contested opening period.
There was some early promise in the Robins' attacking play, but it lacked a final ball to unlock the stout Millwall defence, marshalled by the vastly experienced Richard Shaw.
Gillespie thumped an 18-yard effort well over ten minutes from the break but by and large, goalkeeper Chris Day had little to do throughout the afternoon.
Next Shaw timed his challenge on Paul Connor to perfection to prevent the former Orient man finding Gillespie unmarked and 20 yards from goal a moment later.
It was a much sturdier Cheltenham performance than that of the last visit to the New Den. Then Millwall raced into a comfortable lead but this time around, the Robins' worked hard together to deny the home side and rhythm moving forward.
David Bird exemplified the effort when he charged down May's drive five minutes from the interval. The same player headed the resulting corner over from 10 yards.
But right on the whistle, the home side stole the lead to undo the hard work after a neat move down the right.
Smith slipped a perfectly weighted ball through to release Harris, who took it on and drilled low shot that Higgs got down to. The ball, though, somehow squirmed out of the number one's grasp allowing Danny Spiller to steal in and blast it home from close-range.
It was a soft goal to concede from a Cheltenham perspective, and hard on the team who had done more than enough to go into the break on terms.
Jerry Gill was the unlikely source of Cheltenham's first effort of the second period when he met a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area with a firm strike which screwed over.
Next, Connor burst through the middle but he was cut short by a deliberate foul by Lions' skipper Paul Robinson, who was booked for the indescretion. David Bird stepped up and flashed the 25-yard free-kick past the left upright.
At the other end, Higgs pulled of a fine near-post save to deny substitute Gary Alexander from an angle on the right.
Jennison Myrie-Williams replaced Ashley Vincent in the 66th minute and immediately made an impact with a decent run and shot from 25 yards. The effort however was always rising.
Alexander went close to adding to his tally of strikes against Cheltenham Town after some good work by Harris on the left a couple of minutes later. He cut the ball back for the former Orient man, but Higgs fell on his low effort.
Manager Ward then handed Ben Gill his Football League debut with ten minutes remaining as his team searched for a late breakthrough.
The game became increasingly stretched as it entered the final period. Again the Robins created some meaningful pressure on the Millwall goal and carved their best chance of the afternoon when Ridley delivered the cross from the left that Duff planted against the angle.
MILLWALL (4-4-2): Day; Senda, Robinson, Shaw, Frampton (Barron 90); Spiller (Ardley 82), Dunne, Brammer, Smith (Alexander54); May, Harris. Subs not used: Whitbread, Barron, Edwards (Gk).
CHELTENHAM TOWN (4-4-2): Higgs; J.Gill, Townsend, Duff, Ridley; Lindegaard (B.Gill 80), Finnigan, Bird, Vincent (Myrie-Williams 66); Connor, Gillespie. Subs not used: Gallinagh, Reid, Puddy (Gk)
REFEREE: R. Lee (Essex)
ATTENDANCE: 8,671 (226 from Cheltenham)