Jack Tykes charge to let boss Murray sign off unbeaten
ADAM MURRAY had Jack Walton to thank for ending his run as Barnsley caretaker boss unbeaten.
He was cursing his keeper’s name after his error gifted Stoke an equaliser in a 2-2 draw on Wednesday.
But the Tykes keeper produced two stunning second-half saves from Mason Bennett and sub Kenneth Zohore to make it three draws from three games for Murray.
He thought he might be delivering a winning side to the on-looking Valerian Ismael, who officially takes over today, when Alex Mowatt hit a 44thminute wonder goal.
But he was brought back down to earth a minute later by Jake Cooper’s headed leveller from a corner.
Murray said: “Jack’s a very confident lad. We have great belief in him, we know he is a top, top goalkeeper.
“We are going to have moments like that when we need him and his performance today was very good.
“It was a fantastic finish from Alex.
“But it tends to be a worldy when he does score.”
Murray was not the only stand-in boss on duty as Millwall No.2 Adam Barrett replaced Gary Rowett, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday.
Barnsley had an even later change as Cauley Woodrow and Jordan Williams suffered hamstring injuries in the warm-up.
But they took the lead when Matty James, on his first league start since March 2018, clipped ball to the edge of the box where Cooper’s headed clearance fell invitingly to Mowatt. The Tykes skipper mopped up the second ball to thump a left-foot strike into the top-right corner from
25 yards. Cooper’s next header also resulted in a goal as he met Connor Mahoney’s high and hanging corner at the far post to squeeze the ball between the post and Walton’s right hand.
Bennett thought he had put Millwall ahead when he reached Jed Wallace’s 57thminute cross but Walton reacted brilliantly to keep out the striker’s first-time effort.
Scott Malone then saw a header come back off the bar, while at the other end sub Herbie Kane forced Bartosz Bialkowski into a full-length save with a 25-yard free-kick.
Millwall saved their best move for the final minute, with another Wallace cross finding its target.
But Zohore’s strike saw Walton throw up a hand to deflect the ball over the bar.
Barrett said: “The second half was frustrating because I thought we did enough to win the game and the goalkeeper pulled off a couple of great saves.
“It has been an unusual 24 hours but with modern tech the gaffer was able to keep in touch.”
MILLWALL: Bialkowski 6; Hutchinson
6, Pearce 6, Cooper 7; Romeo 7, Williams 6 (Woods 76th), Leonard
6, Malone 7; J Wallace 7, Bennett 6 (Thompson 83rd), Mahoney 6 (Zohore
(67th) 6).
BARNSLEY: Walton 6; Andersen 6, Sollbauer 6, Helik 6; Brittain 6, Mowatt
7 (Palmer 73rd), James 7 (Thomas
(67th) 6), Odour 7; Simoes 6 (Kane
(58th) 6); Chaplin 6, Frieser 6
STAR MAN: Alex Mowatt
REF: A Davies