Four takeaways from Millwall’s 1-1 draw against Preston – Zian Flemming punishes North End yet again and Tanganga makes promising debut

Millwall were held to a 1-1 draw by Preston North End on Saturday afternoon.

Zian Flemming gave the home side the lead inside the first five minutes but Brad Potts’ equalised before the interval.

Millwall unveiled their latest tribute to former owner John Berylson by renaming Zampa Road to John Berylson Way.

Here are Alex Grace’s four takeaways from another frustrating afternoon in SE16.

WINLESS RUN CONTINUES

It’s now four games without a win in all competitions for Millwall and three of those have been defeats.

The New Year’s Day win at Bristol City feels like quite a while ago. That period steadied the ship after a rocky few weeks risked seeing the Lions roped into the relegation battle at the bottom of the table. That threat looks a lot more manageable now with eight points separating Millwall and QPR, who occupy the final relegation place. Their draw at home to Huddersfield on Sunday was the perfect result for Millwall as neither team made up ground.

Winless runs are, of course, a worrying time. Head coach Joe Edwards will not have been too concerned after performances against Leicester and Middlesbrough but the defeat at QPR was a worry – Saturday’s game saw them give a much better account of themselves.

The response to falling behind was alarming. Edwards admitted in his post-match press conference that he and his staff need to look at why they seem to collapse after conceding a goal.

Preston were not in the contest until that moment but they could and should have been ahead by half time.

ZIAN FLEMMING BACK IN THE GOALS AGAINST A FAVOURABLE OPPONENT

The Bermondsey Bergkamp simply loves playing Preston.

He scored Millwall’s opener with a powerful header that beat Freddie Woodman and brought up his signature celebration that we’ve not been able to see on too many occasions this season.

It was his sixth goal against Preston, he helped himself to a hat-trick at Deepdale and a goal in the victory at The Den last season and also scored in the away fixture in this campaign. He also assisted the first goal in the 2-0 success at home last season.

A change in his position benefited him immensely. Most of the time under Edwards the Dutchman has operated out wide but he started central on Saturday and was rewarded with a goal. He has got 21 goals for the Lions in 75 appearances – 20 of those goals in the Championship.

TANGANGA MAKES POSITIVE START DESPITE COSTLY ERROR

Millwall have made a solid signing in Japhet Tanganga. He had the most touches and made the most passes of any player in the game and he offers a slightly different way of playing. When the team were warming up pre-match the defence warmed up in a back four shape, rather than a back five.

That continued when the teams lined up for kick off. In possession the Lions looked to be set up in a 4-3-3 formation but reverted to a 5-2-3 formation when without the ball with Brooke Norton-Cuffy taking the role of moving further forward – that worked very well. It created the Millwall goal. Norton-Cuffy and George Honeyman combined well in the final third of the pitch, the latter crossed for Flemming to head into the net.

OBEFAMI DEBUT

There was a first glimpse of on-loan Burnley striker Michael Obafemi. He came on with 13 minutes to play and looked very energetic, something that will stand him in good stead with the Millwall faithful.

He has not played an awful lot of football this season, so it may yet take some time for him to get up to scratch and to the right fitness level.