Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TAMED BY LIONS
Watford’s promotion charge runs into a road block
Millwall 0 WATFORD saw their recent charge towards the top checked – but they still just edged into second place.
The Hornets ran into a road block in south London and this dour stalemate was a big opportunity missed to put extra pressure on promotion rivals who have played fewer games.
Gary Rowett’s Lions still have not won at home since October, a run of nine games, and have chalked up just two victories in 17 Championship matches.
But though they are looking over their shoulders now rather than up at the play-offs, Millwall can take bags of encouragement after blunting most of the visitors’ attacking threats.
Watford manager Xisco Munoz, whose side had won their previous three in the league, said: “We had good control of the ball and the game and some chances to score.
“I don’t want to make excuses but the pitch wasn’t easy. We did struggle to create chances in the second half.
“And in a game like this when you do have the chances, you have to score.
“Normally we win the three points in this game but we are still improving as a team and we should win other games like this.”
Rowett said: “You have to say against a side with Deeney,
Gray, Sarr, Cleverley, Chalobah, basically Premier League quality… maybe you take the point.
“Our home form hasn’t been good so to get a clean sheet against Watford is back to where we need to be.”
There was a Millwall debut for Dutch midfielder Maikel Kieftenbeld a day after his free transfer from Birmingham, while Kenneth Zohore replaced Jon Dadi Bodvarsson up front.
The visitors blew a great chance to take the lead after 15 minutes when Ismaila Sarr sent
Andre Gray clear on the right. But his cross was behind the waiting Troy Deeney.
Kieftenbeld was booked for a wild challenge on Nathanial Chalobah. Then, against the run of play, Jed Wallace shot straight at Daniel Bachmann.
Watford came close when from Tom Cleverley’s free-kick a crazy ricochet saw the ball come back off a post.
And on the stroke of halftime Millwall defender Jake Cooper twice almost scored, seeing one header crash back off the woodwork and another beat Bachmann – only to be ruled out for offside.
In the 70th minute Chalobah smashed a shot from 25 yards and when Bartosz Bialkowski palmed it away Deeney’s overhead proved easier to deal with.
But Watford failed to turn their superiority into a goal as Millwall got a deserved point.