Birmingham City rose into the Championship's automatic promotion places with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Millwall at St Andrew's.

Goals from Alex Cochrane - the left-back's second in four days - Max Bird and Jay Stansfield helped the Blues race into a three-goal lead to which the stunned visitors had no answer.

This was Birmingham's fifth win in six matches since the resumption of domestic action following the international break last month and they have scored ten goals, with no reply, in front of their own supporters in that time.

Millwall, who passed up a couple of chances in an entertaining first half, were notoriously strong away from home last season but have won only one of their past six matches on the road this term.

The first of Birmingham's strikes here, on another prolific evening despite the absence of their top goalscorer August Priske, came inside the opening 60 seconds.

Phil Neumann's initial effort did not carry sufficient venom when Millwall failed to clear a free-kick, but the ball came to Cochrane on the edge of the penalty area and he drilled his shot through a crowd of bodies and into the far corner.

Millwall initially responded brightly to the early set-back and they ought to have equalised before the quarter-hour mark when stand-in Birmingham goalkeeper Ryan Allsop parried Jake Cooper's header and Kyrell Lisbie poked the rebound over the bar.

Blues doubled their lead shortly after that opportunity. Jhon Solis skilfully cushioned a header into the path of Bird, who was granted the time and space to advance forwards, pick his spot and convert on his first start since joining from Bristol City in the summer.

The chances at both ends continued to flow steadily. In the space of a minute, Stansfield's snap-shot was denied by Max Crocombe, before his former team-mate Lyndon Dykes fired over the bar, having carried the ball past Birmingham challenges and into the penalty area.

Millwall centre-half Cooper missed another decent opening for the visitors when he failed to keep his near post effort beneath the crossbar following good work from Lisbie and, subsequently, Birmingham extended their advantage further.

Stansfield picked the ball up on the right and he duly punished Millwall defenders Cooper and Caleb Taylor for standing off when he thundered a third inside Crocombe's near post.

Alex Neil introduced Dan Kelly and Mark Sykes from the bench at the interval in the hope of coaxing a reaction from his side, but it was the dominant hosts who carried more of a threat and looked likelier to add a fourth.

Crocombe was alert when Stansfield smartly swivelled on the edge of the penalty area and lashed a fierce effort towards the corner which the Millwall keeper beat away. He was then called into action again before the hour mark when Patrick Roberts looked to get in on the act.

The closest Millwall came to reducing the deficit in the second half was when Camiel Neghli rattled the hosts' crossbar when he let fly from distance, but this night was comprehensively owned by Birmingham, who welcome fellow early front-runners Swansea City on Saturday.

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies told BBC WM:

"Getting a margin in a game is wonderful because you have a cushion to work with. Getting a goal after a minute... it's a great strike.

"We were well worth it. We were fluid, aggressive in the press, and didn't give them time or a lot away. It was an excellent first half. The second half could have been better, in patches, but I am pleased overall.

"Millwall are a very good team and tricky to play against, with big, strong centre-backs, but there was space around them to exploit. This season we look better at set-pieces but also on counterattacks.

"The league table is temporary at the moment. Two years ago when I came in, this club had been relegated out of the league and were in League One. We have come a long way since then.

"We feel we deserve to be where we are. There is a long way to go but it is nice for us to be up and around the top part of the league and we need to do our best to stay up there."

Millwall boss Alex Neil told BBC Radio London:

"We conceded from about 35 yards in the first minute of the game. It seemed to knock us.

"We have had three or four good opportunities in the first half to score but we didn't take any of them.

"The fact we have created the chances is a good thing because we looked threatening, but the lack of clinical edge in the final third was a big problem for us.

"Goals change games. The lack of discipline in the first half didn't help us, albeit they have had four shots and three of them go in the back of our net.

"We are really disappointed that we didn't manage to build on the weekend. It is disappointing the manner we have lost the game.

"We have to bounce back on Saturday and show what we are capable of doing."