Stoke City vs Millwall. Sky Bet Championship.
Bet365 StadiumAttendance22,515.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at the bet365 Stadium
Saturday 11 January 2020 18:19, UK
Stoke played out a dour 0-0 home draw with play-off chasing Millwall in the Championship.
The 10-man Lions missed the chance to jump into the top six after settling for a point.
Gary Rowett's impressive start to life in London continued with just two defeats in his 14 league games in charge. The Lions boss, though, will be disappointed his in-form charges were not able to put the struggling Potters away.
Michael O'Neill's Stoke are just a point above the dreaded drop zone after this latest draw. Millwall's Shaun Williams was sent off with five minutes to go for clattering into Scottish defender Liam Lindsay.
It was a slow first half in Staffordshire with no great chances to speak of from either side. Tyrese Campbell, son of former Arsenal striker Kevin, had the first opportunity to break the deadlock when he fired over the bar after turning onto his right foot.
Lions striker Tom Bradshaw did well to fashion a chance in the box as he forced ex-England keeper Jack Butland into a decent save.
Stoke had to soak up some pressure heading into the break. Butland was troubled by a Jed Wallace cross but cleared the danger and the keeper had to be alert to keep out Mahlon Romeo's low strike after the Lions broke at scintillating pace.
Down the other end the Potters countered themselves with Sam Vokes nodding off target. And just before the break Wales international Vokes stabbed wide after getting on the end of James McClean's cross.
Just after the hour Stoke were agonisingly denied a welcome opener on the line.
Campbell, who had scored three goals in as many league games heading into this clash, saw his effort scrambled off the line by Jake Cooper.
Both teams continued to cancel each other out as the game edged towards the closing stages. Stoke boss O'Neill threw on youngster Thibaud Verlinden, who he recalled from his loan at Bolton, to try and create something late on.
With just five minutes to go Millwall went down to 10 men after Williams committed a desperately late challenge on Lindsay. But even the man advantage was not enough for Stoke to steal the spoils at the death.
Stoke's Michael O'Neill: "The important thing is we didn't lose the game and we kept a clean sheet. It gives us another point and adds a little bit of momentum to us as well. Home games always give you that opportunity to create some breathing room in the relegation battle.
"But we're not constantly looking over our shoulder, we're looking to add points. It's not a case of looking at the other teams, we have to focus on ourselves."
Millwall's Gary Rowett: "It was a difficult game, a poor game in terms of a spectacle. That's what the Championship is like sometimes, the wind swirls around this stadium and makes it so difficult. First half we probably tried to over-play to get into the positions we wanted to.
"Stoke were probably more direct than we had expected to get into the positions they wanted to. Second half was probably the opposite, we then become direct because we're not making the extra pass, and Stoke started to get a little bit more control of the ball. I'd like to see us use the ball better but what we have got is incredible spirit and determination to get results. We've had some difficult games."
