Millwall can have big say in Championship promotion finale – with signs they can be stronger challengers next season

BY ALEX GRACE

Millwall may not be able to gatecrash the Championship top six this season but it looks as if they will have a big say in who does manage to win promotion to the Premier League.

Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Brentford gave Norwich the help they needed to secure an immediate return to the top flight. With fixtures against sides in the running still to come, Millwall will be a big variable in the race for promotion.

The Lions still have Bournemouth and Watford to come in their next two fixtures and how they fare in those two games will give Gary Rowett a very clear idea of whether he believes his side can mount a serious and consistent play-off charge next season. There will not be many sides that will relish playing the Lions in 2021/22.

Millwall impressively managed to contain another side who have very good attacking potential and score lots of goals. Brentford fired five unanswered strikes past Preston in their previous match but never really put Millwall under any severe pressure.

The Lions started well. Mason Bennett looked particularly lively in the opening exchanges causing Bryan Mbeumo plenty of problems.He slipped in Danny McNamara, who delivered a smart cross to the onrushing Scott Malone at the back post, but he couldn’t keep his shot down when he perhaps should have at least tested David Raya in the Brentford goal.

Millwall’s wing-backs caused Brentford’s significant problems. McNamara is certainly staking a claim to be the number one choice ahead of Mahlon Romeo for next season and was again involved as Millwall came close for a second time. The academy product slipped in Jed Wallace, his cross was knocked down to Malone, who this time did force Raya into a save before the keeper pounced on the loose ball.

Thomas Frank would have been disappointed with the way his side failed to take the game to Millwall considering they can still catch Watford and claim that second automatic promotion spot but four draws in five games, even with Watford’s defeat at Luton, still leaves them with a mountain to climb if they are to avoid the play-offs for a second season on the trot.

Brentford lead the Championship’s goal scoring charts with 71 goals, Ivan Toney has 29 of those, one of them coming at The Den in September but he was pretty much non-existent for the most part. That, largely being down to Alex Pearce who perhaps answered some of his critics, after some questionable recent performances. The league’s top marksman did come close just before half-time but his shot from a low cross into the box was blocked.

A response was expected from Frank’s side in the second period and they did fulfill that expectation. Marcus Forss would have been disappointed not to have made Bart Bialkowski work after beating George Evans to get a chance to shoot at goal.

Bialkowski has registered 17 clean sheets in the league this season. Across his two seasons to date he has kept 33 shutouts in 87 games, more than any other keeper in the league. He is one of Millwall’s best-ever purchases and at a bargain price too. He was called into action at the end when the ball fell to Toney, who is three goals short of the record scoring haul in a Championship season, but the Poland stopper’s bravery to smother the ball prevented him adding to that tally.

What happened right at the end just summed Millwall’s season up in a nutshell. Defensive solidity at the back, not being backed up by those at the top end of the pitch. McNamara was slid into the box and rather than going for goal himself tried to find substitute Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, who perhaps could have showed more of a striker’s instinct and slid in towards the ball – but he didn’t and the chance to take all three points passed by.

Had the Icelandic international been in better form, and perhaps higher in confidence, that would have been a striker’s dream chance. It’s been a nightmare two years for Bodvarsson who has found the net just once this season and just seven times since he arrived from Reading. He has never been the most prolific, with just 68 goals in 350 career appearances.

Watching the Lions go toe to toe with the league’s bigger sides has been frustrating as it is clear for the most part they can match them. With the likes of Connor Mahoney to come back and perhaps play a more pivotal role next season and the addition of someone who finds the net on a regular basis, those top-six postions will be in the grasp of Millwall next season. They have the foundations to be a very strong side at this level.

STAR MAN:
Danny McNamara. Once again Millwall’s best attacking outlet, looked very lively down the right hand side.

BEST MOMENT:
Bialkwski’s quick reactions to smother the ball at the feet of Ivan Toney.

Photos: Brian Tonks