MURPHY MAGIC THWARTS LIONS
MILLWALL manager Neil Harris cursed his side’s luck as the Lions dropped out of the League One play-off places after being held to goalless draw by Bury.
Forward Steve Morison had a second-half strike ruled out for offside – which Harris believes should have stood – as the Shakers frustrated their hosts by grinding out a much-needed point.
Despite the contrasting opinions, the Lions boss insists he has no qualms with the officials.
“The goal was perfectly good,” Harris said. “Unfortunately luck eluded us today with that decision.
“Anybody can get a 50-50 decision wrong, but when you have the 18-yard box as a guideline where Steve Morison has made his run, he shouldn’t really get it wrong.
“But I’m not going to berate the official for this – that was a little bit of luck that deserted us.”
On the few occasions Millwall did break through Bury’s defence, they were thwarted by impressive goalkeeper Joe Murphy.
The on-loan Huddersfield stopper made it six clean sheets in nine appearances with a couple of stunning stops to keep out Lee Gregory and Byron Webster, drawing praise from home manager Harris.
He added: “Their keeper made a couple of excellent saves. He showed his experience with the way he managed the game, the saves he made and the way he managed his back five. He was the difference between us winning the game and not picking up the three points.
“I’ve said to the boys how many times has it happened that teams have come here and played with a back seven – five defenders and two holding midfielders.
“Today we lacked that little bit of composure at times. Credit to Bury – they got the point they came for.”
A point for the Shakers takes them up to 17th in the table and four points above the drop zone.
The draw also maintained manager Lee Clark’s unbeaten away streak since taking charge, and the Bury boss exclaimed his pride in the fight his side showed.
Clark said: “I am delighted with the result and I’m delighted with how it was achieved.
“I think you have seen a different side to this group of players today. They really dug in from the first whistle. They were strong and aggressive against a strong Millwall team.
“We showed today that we can handle the intense atmosphere and we have had some openings ourselves.
“Not as many as we’ve made in previous matches, but I thought the defensive performance from the team was superb.
“That’s three clean sheets on the bounce now which is very pleasing.
“And it’s a great place to start from, especially when we’ve got the attacking players that we have.”