Fulham blow the chance to go second after Millwall miss penalty
On the night and in the ground, it did not feel like two points dropped for Fulham. On paper, though, and in the cold reality of the race for promotion, this will go down as an opportunity missed by Scott Parker’s side, who would have moved into second place in the Championship with a victory.
It was a predictably testing evening under the lights at Millwall, where the wind swirled, the ball bobbled and the tackles crunched. It could have gone either way, too, with Jed Wallace missing a penalty for the home side, whose equaliser in the first half was the result of a dreadful offside decision.
On those facts alone, a point is understandable for Parker’s side. But Millwall had gone three matches without a win and had lost recently against both West Bromwich Albion and Leeds United, Fulham’s main rivals for promotion. It was not a must-win for Parker’s team, but it certainly had the feel of a game they should win if they want to finish inside the top two.
Despite the squelchy pitch, and typically hostile atmosphere, it had all started brilliantly for the visitors as Aleksandar Mitrovic stabbed home his third goal in three games, and his 21st of the season, from Joe Bryan’s cross after just three minutes. Those are Premier League numbers, from a player who really should be in the Premier League, but Fulham’s start was promptly ruined by an emground phatically substandard moment of officiating.
Shaun Hutchinson headed across goal from a right-wing Millwall corner, where the ball was met by Jon Dadi Bodvarsson at the back post. The striker was one of two players who were at least a yard offside, yet the linesman’s flag remained fixed to his hips. For all the legitimate complaints about video assistant referees in the top flight this season, this was a compelling argument in its favour.
“For me, it’s clearly two players offside,” Parker said. “Everything you work on in terms of clearing your box from set-plays is exactly what we did. You’d like to think that the officials get that. It dented us a bit and we felt sorry for ourselves.”
As Fulham fumed, a flowing move soon led to Millwall’s Mahlon Romeo being chopped to the in the area by Bryan. Up stepped Wallace but his penalty clipped the top of the bar on the way over.
Millwall have more invention to their game under Gary Rowett, yet their most promising moments here came when Fulham were rattled by the home side’s intensity and physicality.
It was Fulham who came closest to winning it at the death when Neeskens Kebano, on as a substitute, flicked a header against the top of the Millwall crossbar.