Lions boss Rowett hails match-saving stops by keeper Bart

BY DANIEL MARSH

Gary Rowett hailed Bartosz Bialkowski after the Polish stopper’s sensational late penalty save preserved the points for Millwall in their 1-0 win over Rotherham.

A Jed Wallace thunderbolt had given the Lions the lead shortly after Millers’ captain Richard Wood was dismissed for a professional foul.

But the visitors didn’t throw in the towel, and were almost rewarded with a late penalty – only to be thwarted by Bialkowski’s late heroics.

His late penalty save also sealed his 16th clean sheet of the season – the same figure he and the Lions amassed in the whole of the 19/20 campaign.

“Fortunate or indebted to your goalkeeper for making a great save?” reflected Rowett after the game.

“I felt the game should have been out of the way by that point. We had some very good opportunities, their keeper’s made some very good saves.

“A couple of times Scotty [Malone] puts Jed [Wallace] in – if he has a better touch then it’s a great opportunity.

“Mason [Bennett] has one when Jed makes a run but he plays it too early when he could have opened the space up. Danny Mac forces a save from the keeper, Connor [Mahoney] comes on and finds half a yard but then couldn’t quite finish.

“Jed’s finish to be 1-0 up was a lovely goal and worthy of winning any game. But Rotherham don’t give up and they keep trying to do the right things.

“With 10 men I felt we could have made it a lot easier for ourselves, but a combination of a little bit of sloppy, poor passing and Rotherham’s desperation to keep doing the right things forced the penalty.

“At first I thought it was [Alex] Pearcey they’d adjudged to have fouled the player and I wasn’t quite sure what on earth they’d given it for. But when I watched it back I think it was Murray [Wallace] and it probably looked like a penalty. It was a great save from Bart and it gets us the points.

“I thought it [Wood’s dismissal] was a red card. I’m not one for desperately trying to get players sent off. But it was good play from Jed and Mason and then Jed makes a great run. When Mason manages to find a great reverse-pass back to him then Jed’s in. The player bringing him down [meant] there wasn’t any other decision in my opinion the referee could have made.”

Rotherham’s late penalty appeal was the latest in a number of shouts for a spot-kick throughout the game.

Rowett admitted a first-half tussle between Shaun Hutchinson and Freddie Ladapo did look like a penalty at the time – although on reflection the officials got the call right.

The Lions boss added: “When I first saw it I thought maybe we’re a bit fortunate to get away with it. But watching it back, I don’t really think there’s enough to be a penalty. The actual penalty was probably a lot clearer.

“We had a worse scenario at Blackburn when we had four penalty appeals turned down and then you watch them back you see all four were actual penalties.

“It was a big save from Bart and disappointing for Rotherham.”