Lions vice-captain Hutchinson: We threw away a positive result against Barnsley

BY ALEX GRACE

Shaun Hutchinson reckons that Millwall “threw away” a point against Barnsley on Saturday.

The Lions had equalised through substitute Aiden O’Brien in the 85th minute but were  hit by a late sucker punch from Barnsley’s Patrick Schmidt, whose header deep into added time handed Barnsley all three points in South London.

The reverse ended Millwall’s unbeaten seven-game run in the Championship.

Hutchinson said: “I’m gutted to be honest, all the boys are.”

Millwall have taken 19 points off teams sitting above them in the Championship, compared to 14 off the teams below them in the  table.

“We even said before the game, how teams at the bottom of the league fighting for their lives, we always seem to find them the hardest [to beat],” admitted Hutchinson.

Gary Rowett’s men created opportunities in the first half but failed to manage a shot on target and were punished when Conor Chaplin put the visitors in front.

Hutchinson said: ”We started the game well, they got the goal, it was a good finish from the boy out of nothing. We then lost our way a little bit but grew into the game.

“We got ourselves back in it but then threw it away. The lads are gutted in there but we have to pick ourselves up again because we weren’t going to go the rest of the season unbeaten but we just seem to struggle against teams at the bottom.”

Asked if he felt Millwall were underestimating the sides towards the bottom of the table, Hutchinson responded: “Definitely not, we said before the game, we had to get the mentality right. We got the mentality right, the training has been fine.

“We just find it harder against teams that are harder to break down and that showed again today. We went into the game like we always do. They’ve taken two pretty good finishes and the three points.”