The lowdown on Burnley 3 Millwall 1 – Lions miss out on the play-offs after final day defeat at Burnley

It was not to be for Millwall in their quest to land a Championship play-off place on the final day of the season as they fell to a battling 3-1 defeat to Burnley.

Victory for Scott Parker’s side looked like landing them the league title, but a late Leeds goal at Plymouth meant they would have to settle for second place.

Mihalio Ivanovic had given the Lions an 11th minute lead, however, Josh Brownhill quickly cancelled that out. The hosts would go on to score twice more in the second half through Jadion Anthony and Bronwhill adding his second.

Here is the lowdown on the match.

THE LINE-UPS

Burnley: Trafford, Roberts, Esteve, Egan-Riley, Pires, Brownhill, Cullen, Edwards (Sarmiento 79), Mejbri (Laurent 84), Anthony, Barnes (Foster 79)

Subs not used: Hlakdy, Worrall, Sonne, Ramsey, Kolesho, Redmond.

Millwall: Evans, Crama (Leonard 76), Cooper, Tanganga, Sturge, Honeyman (Wintle 76), De Norre (Cundle 63), Saville (Langstaff 83), Azeez, Coburn, Ivanovic (Emakhu 76)

Subs not used: Przewozny, Harding, Kelly, Matthews.

SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME

Millwall had the dream start, the returning George Honeyman crossed for Ivanovic, who netted his 12th Championship goal of the season.

However, just moments later, the home side were level. A long ball up to Ashley Barnes, he found Josh Brownhill who slotted into the net as it was back to as you were. The home side were relentless is their attacks.

Anthony and Marcus Edwards caused Tristen Crama and Zak Sturge a lot of problems. Despite all of that, Millwall should have gone in at half time in front after Crama’s ball found Coburn at the back post, but the striker’s effort came back off the post.

Burnley’s second half dominance finally resulted in Anthony making it 2-1, he got the better of Crama from a Burnley free-kick, Clarets skipper Brownhill then sealed the deal in stoppage time with a free-kick from just outside the box.

TACTICAL APPROACH

Alex Neil made just one change to the side that beat Swansea. George Honeyman was recalled in place of Luke Cundle. The Lions have proved to be a major threat when playing with two strikers and Neil once again started with both Coburn and Ivanovic.

It worked in the early going as the Lions got in front. As the second half wore on, the Lions boss replaced Ivanovic with Enakhu as the hosts dominated and Millwall were struggling to get the ball to their strikers.

STAR MAN

George Evans – The young keeper kept Millwall in the game for as long as he possibly could making a number of superb stops.

BEST MOMENT

Ivanovic’s early opener. It gave the away fans a real sense of hope, unfortunately, his team were unable to build on that goal and the home side were level just minutes later.

A TALKING POINT DOWN THE PUB

What might have been?

It was always going to be a tough ask for the Lions to come to Burnley on the final day and win. The Clarets unbeaten at home all season and only lost three of their last 93 home league games in the second tier.

After that opening goal, there were raptures in the away end, but before we even got to look at what it meant to the table, Burnley were level. There is no denying that this team over the last few weeks have given everything but ultimately it was just a stretch too far for them. However, there is plenty to look forward to next season for Alex Neil and his side.

WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY

“The disappointing thing from our point of view is we score the first goal, then go and concede straight away — which is a cardinal sin in any game. The manner of the goals we conceded was so frustrating for us. The first one is a clean ball we should do better with, then they have two ricochets which land at their feet.

“The second goal is a dead-ball free-kick and we get done in behind, and the third one is a free-kick — George gambles and leaves the side open a bit too much that he should probably be covering, and the ball ends up in the far corner.”

PICTURE: BRIAN TONKS