Rowett returns to Zian of the crime

GARY ROWETT was left cursing Zian Flemming’s early penalty miss which cost Millwall three points.

Fleming’s 28th-minute spot-kick was saved by Alex Palmer and proved the big turning point.

Rowett said: “Clearly you expect to be 1-0 up in that situation and I’m sure Zian will be disappointed.

“I think that gave West Brom a bit of a lift because, certainly in the second half, they pinned us back.

“But sometimes you have to dig in in the Championship and we did. We certainly didn’t come here for a point.”

In the end the result of an average game between two less than convincing sides all hinged on Palmer’s early heroics.

The Baggies keeper had a pretty quiet afternoon all told but when he was called on he came up trumps.

Kyle Bartley was judged guilty of handball and the visitors seemed all geared up to take the lead but Palmer guessed correctly and flung himself to the foot of his right-hand post to beat the ball away.

Millwall were left cursing that but overall they can have few complaints because West Brom then came closer to breaking the deadlock only to be twice denied by the woodwork.

Alex Mowatt curled a beautifully struck free-kick over the wall but it smashed against the face of the crossbar and 15 minutes from time it was a similar tale of bad luck when Brandon Thomasasante saw his header come back off the bar.

Baggies boss Carlos Corberan said: “We’re frustrated. We just have to be more clinical in front of goal. First half we didn’t play well but we came out strongly after the break.” WEST BROM: Palmer 7; Ajayi 6, Bartley 6, Pieters 6 (Furlong (77) 5); Townsend 7, Molumby 6 (Yokuslu (83) 5), Mowatt 6, Phillips 7 (J Wallace (77) 5); Sarmiento 7 (Swift (77) 5), Thomasasante 6, Diangana 6 MILLWALL: Bialkowski 6; M Wallace 6, Cooper 7, Leonard 7; Longman 6 (Mcnamara (66) 5), Campbell 6 (Mitchell (78) 5), De Norre 6, Norton-cuffy 6 (Esse (78) 5); Fleming 6; Watmore 6 (Bryan (66) 5), Bradshaw 6 (Emakhu (83) 5) STAR MAN: Alex Palmer – Early penalty save proved crucial. REF: Tom Nield 7