Millwall vs Preston North End. Sky Bet Championship.
The DenAttendance11,751.
Saturday 13 January 2018 19:09, UK
Callum Robinson's late goal earned Preston a share of the points in a 1-1 draw against Millwall at the Den.
Aiden O'Brien opened the scoring in the first half after an assist from Jed Wallace who twice came close to scoring himself.
Both sides had plenty of chances in an end-to-end game before Preston earned a crucial point through Robinson 10 minutes from time to maintain his side's push for a top-six spot in the Sky Bet Championship.
Early on Preston produced a dangerous attack when Billy Bodin made a break down the right wing but his cross narrowly missed an unmarked Jordan Hugill inside the six-yard box.
Millwall, playing their 2,000th home game in the English Football League, had a flurry of chances in the first 20 minutes, most notably when James Meredith's long throw-in found Steve Morison on the edge of the box but his header went straight into the hands of goalkeeper Chris Maxwell.
Moments later, the visitors intercepted the ball in their own half and Paul Gallagher broke away through the middle before offloading to a determined Bodin, whose powerful shot went wide from a deflection.
Preston had another chance on the counter midway through the first half, this time Robinson made an assault down the left-hand side but his shot flew over the crossbar.
The hosts earned themselves a free-kick before the 40-minute mark after Morison clashed with Tom Clarke when the pair contended for a high ball but the set-piece was wasted. However, the Lions took the lead just before half-time when an off-balance O'Brien connected with Wallace's low cross and slotted the ball into the net from close range.
Millwall maintained the momentum in the second half as Wallace put the ball past two Preston defenders and forced goalkeeper Maxwell to meet him outside the box for a clearance.
Five minutes later, George Saville nearly doubled the hosts' lead when his shot from outside the box missed the target by inches as it whizzed past the right post.
An equaliser came for the visitors on 80 minutes when Robinson connected with a sharp pass from Greg Cunningham and chested the ball straight past the goalkeeper.
Both teams hunted for the winner as substitution Daniel Johnson broke away twice for Preston but a sound Millwall defence were able to hang on to the draw.
Neil Harris: "I thought there were two very fine calls today. Both that should have gone our favour. Firstly, young Ben Pearson should have been sent-off because it was identical to Jake Cooper's second yellow card at Sheffield Wednesday earlier in the season. So I don't understand that one.
"Secondly, Lee Gregory scores through one and one and was clearly three yards onside. I've watched it through two different angles and he was clearly onside. So two fine margin decisions at 1-0 that could have affected the outcome of the game."
Alex Neil: "I think it's harsh to say Ben Pearson should have seen a red card. I thought the first booking was really disappointing and he didn't really deserve it and I think Ben's frustration was the same as mine. Within a game, there are a lot of 50-50 decisions and you're hoping it's going to get spotted evenly and I feel we didn't get our fair share.
"There was one incident where the ball was on the sideline and the linesman said it was out, I was right next to it and it was nowhere near out. You get them from time to time but he certainly did not deserve a red card. I don't think there was any dirty tackles in the game whatsoever. I think we certainly did enough to get something from the game."
