Millwall throw away two-goal lead at Leeds in second half collapse

Leeds 3 Millwall 2

By Alam Khan

Millwall missed the chance of moving into the Championship play-offs when they threw away a two-goal lead at Leeds.

Gary Rowett’s men were stunned as their advantage was surrendered in the second half with Leeds scoring three times to reclaim the Championship leadership and leave the Lions ninth – three points off the top six.

With his fourth goal of the season – and first since November – Shaun Hutchinson opened the scoring for the visitors in the fourth minute, heading home a Jed Wallace corner.

The Lions then battled to keep the hosts at bay with keeper Bartosz Bialkowski showing why his loan move from Ipswich had been made permanent.

Twice he denied Stuart Dallas with fine saves before his side snatched a second goal in the 23rd minute.

After Ryan Woods had kept the ball in play, he found Jon Dadi Bodvarsson in the box and the Iceland international was brought down under pressure from Ezgjan Alioski and Liam Cooper.

Jed Wallace confidently drove in the spot-kick for his 10th goal of the season.

There were reports of Leeds fans throwing objects, including coins, at Millwall players as they celebrated the second goal.

The expected Leeds response saw them pull one back three minutes after the restart when Bialkowski again did well to deny Jack Harrison, but Patrick Bamford was there to tap in.

While Bialkowski was producing heroics, he could not stop a Pablo Hernandez volley squeezing into the corner in the 62nd minute via a deflection.

Four minutes later Millwall were left miserable as Bamford headed home a Luke Ayling cross to seal a dramatic Leeds comeback.