Josh Coburn will rue missing his first-half sitter as Millwall were forced to settle for a goalless draw at an impressive West Brom who themselves took a major stride towards Championship survival.
Coburn, who had been named Championship Player of the Month for March on Friday for three goals in three matches, left his shooting boots at home as he steered a Thierno Ballo ball wide from point-blank range.
While the point moves a promotion-chasing Millwall into the top two, the Lions failed to take full advantage of playing first this weekend, with Ipswich and Middlesbrough a point behind ahead of their fixtures on Saturday. The Tractor Boys also have three games in hand on Millwall.
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Josh Coburn misses sitter for Millwall against West Brom
A draw means that Coventry could now secure promotion to the Premier League if the Sky Blues beat Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday lunchtime and Middlesbrough fail to win.
West Brom are now unbeaten in seven games as they vie for survival and now have a five-point buffer on the drop zone. While Millwall had the more glaring opportunities, West Brom themselves will feel aggrieved they didn’t take all three points.
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Mihailo Ivanovic lets fly from range and sends his effort crashing into the bar for Millwall against West Brom in the Championship
The first half belonged to Millwall, who also hit the bar when Mihailo Ivanovic attempted to curl home from range. The second, though, was West Brom’s.
The Albion had moments in the ascendancy across the whole 90 minutes but only tested Nathan Patterson in the 82nd minute when he kept out Jayson Molumby from close range.
Daniel Imray’s back-post intervention also denied Tom Watson to ensure a clean sheet for West Brom.
Attention now turns to Coventry, who take on Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich’s trip to Norwich, both live on Sky. Eyes will also be on what Middlesbrough manage against Portsmouth.
The managers
West Brom’s James Morrison:
“I’m really happy. Three games in a week, after an international break, we kept pushing to the end, we had some tired legs out there but we just needed a ball to fall to us.
“In the first half, they looked dangerous; they counter-attacked us too many times, but we sorted that out.
“I stand here pretty happy because we are fighting and pushing, there was a bit more quality in the final third too which I was pleased about.”
“I’ll watch [Saturday’s action] with a bit of nerves. It’s the moment we’re in.”
Millwall’s Alex Neil:
“A point is good, you always want to pick up points. We had the best chance through Josh Coburn, we had enough chances to win the game. I think they had one opportunity in the first half.
“You could see at the end… we started to tire in the second half. Players were starting to cramp and tighten up. We made six changes, with the concussion sub, to try to freshen things up.”
“We’re not relying on anybody. Our aim is always to get as many points as possible. I don’t focus on what other teams are going to do, I only focus on us. It’s another point on the board. We are focused on getting as many points on the board as we can, a game at a time.
“I always tell the players if you can’t win the game, don’t lose the game. We take the point, four games to go, we’ll try to win them all.”
