A win over Norwich City can make Millwall’s point earned at Luton Town feel a lot sweeter
BY DANIEL MARSH
Picking up points when you’re not quite at it is the hallmark of a good team. So, once the sting of Luke Berry’s 87th-minute strike subsides, Millwall should take plenty of encouragement from the Championship point they banked at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night.
When you take into consideration where Luton are in the table, a draw away from home against a promotion rival certainly isn’t to be sniffed at.
And although it may feel a touch controversial to claim the solitary point that Millwall picked up against the Hatters after giving up a two-goal lead is still a good one, it definitely is – particularly as the South Londoners’ performance never really merited such a significant advantage.
There was more than a touch of good fortune about Millwall’s opener.
It took Zian Flemming just nine minutes to break the deadlock against Stoke City at the weekend – and he needed just four minutes to beat Luton goalkeeper Ethan Horvath, who made an absolute hash of the Dutchman’s rasping strike and fumbled the ball into the net.
Flemming’s 12th goal of the season – which came very much against the run of the early play – turned out to be a sign of things to come for the visitors.
The Lions caught another big break when Tom Bradshaw found the net in the 52nd minute to double their lead via George Honeyman, who appeared to be offside.
Bradshaw’s strike, which means he rejoins Flemming at the top of the Lions scoring charts, left Luton with a mountain to climb.
But Millwall also still had plenty of work to do.
Even before Bradshaw struck in front of the Sky Sports cameras again – he has scored hat-tricks this season against Watford and Sheffield United – they didn’t really have a foothold in the match.
That’s not to say Luton overly troubled goalkeeper George Long before or after Elijah Adebayo halved the deficit.
The Hatters, who ended the night one spot lower than their fifth-placed visitors, dominated possession and tried to play their way around Millwall’s defence, but that didn’t translate into a glut of clearcut goalscoring opportunities.
It did, however, feel as though another goal was coming long before Berry was given the freedom of Luton to pick out the bottom right-hand corner of the net.
After picking up results against Sheffield United, Burnley and Stoke City, travelling to Luton always looked a tough task on paper. It turned out to be exactly that.
One of the things Millwall have done so well this season is mix things up. The Lions aren’t afraid to go direct, but they also have real quality when they get the ball down on the deck. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen enough in Bedfordshire.
Flemming had his moments on the ball and his influence continues to grow, but far too often the Lions surrendered possession cheaply.
The manner in which Bradshaw has evolved to suit the lone striker role over the past few months has, in some ways, been masked by his impressive goal tally.
The flick-on he won to tee up Flemming for the opener underlined how much he has grown into his new role, but even the Lions’ ever-willing number nine was unable to do much with the flurry of balls which were sent forward in a panic.
Set-pieces have also been fruitful for Rowett’s side – they have outscored every other team in the league in that metric by some distance – but, not for the first time in recent games, Millwall were wasteful from set-plays.
Fortunes have improved on the road of late, but this felt like a game too far for Rowett’s walking wounded.
It’s hard to be too critical of a group that have given everything to negotiate an exhausting run of February fixtures without the likes of Billy Mitchell, Mason Bennett and George Saville.
Millwall’s threadbare squad is now being stretched to its absolute limit.
Saville was absent from the squad at Luton with a tight calf and his presence in the middle of the park was a big miss.
Bradshaw was withdrawn in the second-half with a similar issue -keeping the in-form striker fit has to be the Lions’ biggest priority right now.
Jamie Shackleton also felt a strain and Ryan Leonard struggled with cramp after starting his first game in months.
The Lions may not have shown the quality that has seen them establish themselves as bonafide top-six contenders this year, but there can be no doubting their character after grinding out results at Stoke and Luton.
It would have been easy to go under in the final minutes, too, after Berry’s late equaliser, with both momentum and the home crowd right behind Luton.
That character should serve them well ahead of tomorrow’s huge match against Norwich City at the Den – this is a group that won’t dwell on Tuesday night’s late suckerpunch.
Millwall fancy their chances of beating anybody at SE16, but they have also collected 16 points from a possible 27 on the road heading into the weekend.
After years of flirting with the play-offs, this year – and this team – feels different.
The point that was picked up underlines how drastically Millwall have improved away from the Den. And it’s still a good one, even if you would have fancied one of the division’s best defences to see out a 2-1 lead in the final minutes.
If Millwall can do what they so often do at the Den against Norwich, unbeaten in four league matches, then Tuesday night’s point will feel much sweeter.
STAR MAN
Zian Flemming. Looked Millwall’s most dangerous player before going off.
BEST MOMENT
Tom Bradshaw’s goal came after some neat play from Danny McNamara and George Honeyman. The latter may have been offside when he found Bradshaw, but it was a slick move.