Sammie Szmodics salvaged some extent for Blackburn however his twentieth Championship objective of the season couldn’t disguise the house aspect’s frustration after a tricky 1-1 draw with Millwall at Ewood Park.
Szmodics pounced on a defensive error to fireside house simply previous the hour mark, 10 minutes after Millwall substitute Michael Obafemi had lashed the Lions in entrance.
However the outcome prolonged Rovers’ dismal streak to only one win in 15 league video games and leaves John Eustace nonetheless trying to find his first victory in cost.
In distinction, Millwall’s level stretched their unbeaten run below Neil Harris to 3 matches and they’ll arguably have been the happier, regardless of the careless method during which they tossed away over an hour of sterling defensive work.
Revitalised below the cost of their all-time report goalscorer, the guests had one of the best probability of a primary half that was nearly devoid of incident, Ziam Flemming taking pictures into the side-netting from a good angle after George Saville’s nook.
It was the one probability of any sort mustered within the first half by Harris’ males, who appeared completely satisfied to sit down again and squeeze the momentum out of the house aspect, with Japhet Tanganga specifically excellent on the again.
The Lions’ techniques might largely be mentioned to have labored if the scattered boos that greeted the hosts on the half-time whistle was something to go by.
Szmodics might do nothing with an effort from a good angle after being put by by Tyrhys Dolan, then Szmodics returned the favour however his team-mate was caught offside.
The busy Dolan tried his luck from lengthy vary however his effort was blocked by Tanganga, who was additionally central to hacking away a harmful Dom Hyam free-kick, earlier than Flemming had his probability on the different finish, simply earlier than the half-hour mark.
Jake Cooper denied Szmodics a taking pictures probability with a wonderful interception, then Ryan Longman’s gutsy counter-attack trickled out to neatly sum up a forgettable first interval.
Obafemi wanted lower than eight minutes to make an impression, tenaciously profitable Billy Mitchell’s positive cross into the field and capitalising on poor Rovers defending to show and hearth a rising shot previous house goalkeeper Leo Wahlstedt.
Amid evident frustration among the many house followers, Rovers responded properly, Szmodics forcing a save from Matija Sarkic earlier than a determined blunder from Millwall’s Danny McNamara led to their 63rd-minute equaliser.
The total-back failed to identify Rovers substitute Amor Sigurdsson when enjoying a sq. ball and the Iceland striker, who had solely been on the sphere for 2 minutes, served Szmodics to comb the leveller previous Sarkic.
The wonderful Tanganga headed away a harmful cross below strain from Szmodics, whereas Yasin Ayari’s long-range effort deep into damage time was palmed away by Sarkic as Millwall held on.
The managers
Blackburn’s John Eustace:
“It wasn’t a classic but again the lads have shown fantastic character and togetherness, to come from a goal behind against a difficult opponent.
“I used to be happy with the response. We dominated possession with out actually testing their keeper, however we labored exhausting and caught collectively and it was a superb level ultimately.
“The boys since I’ve come in have been fantastic. We’re playing players who have come back from long injuries and they are running through brick walls for us. They are leggy and tired but they are fully committed to the cause.”
Millwall’s Neil Harris:
“When you get your noses in front in a scrappy game at this stage of the season, you need to see the game out.
“Danny is disenchanted however he’ll get up and take duty and there have been different issues we did not do properly within the build-up to the objective, so there isn’t a particular person blame tradition.
“The big thing for me is that we came off tonight and we gave a really poor goal away but the players all mentioned that it was a really good point for us tonight.”
Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight showdown with Francis Ngannou takes place on Friday March 8, reside on Sky Sports activities Field Workplace with the primary occasion anticipated round 11pm. E book Joshua vs Ngannou now!