Millwall 2 Nottingham Forest 2 – Aiden O’Brien rescues point for Lions with stoppage-time equaliser

BY JAKE SANDERS

Aiden O’Brien came off the bench to notch his first Championship goal of the season and extend Millwall’s unbeaten league run to five matches as they drew 2-2 with promotion-chasing Nottingham Forest at The Den.

Shaun Williams’ early header – his second in as many matches – put the Lions on course to record their first victory since winning at Swansea City last month, but Lewis Grabban cancelled it out just 55 seconds after his second-half introduction with a close-range strike.

The ex-Millwall striker completed the turnaround for Forest in the 88th minute before O’Brien slammed home deep into stoppage-time to earn Millwall a well-deserved point.

The Lions have lost just once in seven games under Gary Rowett and remain unbeaten at home since his arrival, but missed the opportunity to move to within two points of the Championship play-offs.

Millwall were quick out of the blocks and had an early chance to break the deadlock, but Ben Thompson couldn’t keep his header down from eight-yards after he was picked out by Mahlon Romeo after just five minutes.

However, moments later, the Lions did go in front as Jed Wallace, who was a thorn in the Forest side throughout the opening period, floated a corner into the danger-zone and Williams arrived on queue to plant a perfectly-timed header into the corner to mark his 250th Millwall appearance with his fourth goal in five matches against the Nottingham-based outfit.

As for Wallace, it was his 10th goal involvement in as many matches and eighth since the arrival of Rowett.

Millwall continued to dominate and Romeo came close to extending their lead in the 27th minute, but could only sting the palms of Brice Samba.

The visitors failed to have a single shot on target in the first half, but that changed five minutes after the break as Matty Cash nodded down Jack Robinson’s cross for Sammy Ameobi, although the former Newcastle United frontman was denied by a fine reflex save from Bartosz Bialkowski, who had been a mere spectator until then.

Grabban was introduced just past the hour mark and was greeted by boos from the home faithful, but made his mark less than a minute later as he equalised with his first touch after Joe Worrall nodded Tiago Silva’s free-kick back across goal, leaving the ex-Lion with a simple finish from close-range.

Millwall should have retaken the lead soon after, but Jake Cooper, who still hasn’t scored this season, was somehow denied by Samba from two yards after Thompson kept the attack alive by hooking back into the six-yard box. Cooper then saw another effort hacked off the line from the resulting corner as Rowett’s men went in search of a winner.

It almost came on 75 minutes as Cooper once more climbed highest from a deep Williams corner, but Ameobi was in the right place to clear off the line as the Forest goal continued to live a charmed life.

The visitors thought they’d snatched all three points late on when Grabban once again found himself in the right place to poke home his second of the evening, but O’Brien was also well-placed to convert a loose ball on 92 minutes after Williams’ long-range piledriver was palmed into his path by Samba.

Remarkably, Millwall almost won it themselves even deeper into injury time, but substitute Connor Mahoney fired into the side-netting after an excellent solo run.

PHOTOS BY KEITH GILLARD