Millwall won their first game in three as they eased past Preston North End at The Den.

It was a comfortable victory from the moment George Honeyman gave them the lead on 24 minutes.

It was 2-0 by half-time after Romain Esse scored - and Macaulay Langstaff added a third after the break. Preston pulled one back through Jordan Storey.

Millwall's Aidomo Emakhu was sent off in the closing stages.

The hosts started with real purpose and almost went ahead within 10 minutes when Casper de Norre thumped the crossbar with a powerful volley from the edge of the area.

Honeyman opened the scoring by finishing off a great team move which began with a Jake Cooper knockdown and involved Langstaff, who laid it on a plate for the midfielder to fire home.

Preston had 57% of first-half possession but could not make the most of it, although they did go close to equalising when Lukas Jensen denied Brad Potts from close range.

They were punished. Esse doubled Millwall's lead with his first-ever home goal, rounding keeper Freddie Woodman to finish off a swift, efficient counter-attack from Duncan Watmore.

Langstaff added a third just two minutes after the break. He slotted home emphatically after Watmore pounced on a poor Woodman clearance to combine with Honeyman in the build-up.

Storey scored what was little more than a consolation for Preston after 87 minutes, tucking in from six yards after Ben Whiteman's shot was blocked.

But it ended on a sour note for Millwall, with Emakhu being dismissed after an altercation with Robbie Brady.

Millwall manager Neil Harris told BBC Radio London:

"Overall I'm delighted, we've been so good this season.

"It's really pleasing to stand here after the result and I'm delighted with the way we played - we dominated the first half.

"We could have handled the final 10-ish minutes better, which ultimately ended up with the red card and goal conceded, but I'm really happy."

Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom:

“We got what we deserved, really, starting like that. We were really slow to start.

“We spoke so much about their set-plays and their threat and you can’t always stop good heading of the ball, but more often than not the area he heads it down to is the danger, and we spoke about that a lot.

“To concede that (first) goal was really poor on our part, but it was coming - they’d already hit the bar and we’d had a few warnings.

“I felt that shook us into life a bit and we had a couple of good moments, and then the second goal is a counter-attack from our set-play.

“If you go 2-0 down, it’s difficult, especially here because Millwall can just sit in and deny space.

“We made some changes at half-time, created a good chance and then 60 seconds later we’re 3-0 down, again from being out-competed.”