WE’LL BAG THAT
But ‘greedy’ Rowett wants more
GARY ROWETT admitted to feeling “greedy” after claiming his Millwall side should have beaten promotion favourites West Brom.
The spoils were shared at The Hawthorns after two goals in six second-half minutes, a result that still lifted the Baggies to top.
But it was Millwall who had the better chances and Lions boss Rowett was frustrated with a draw.
“It was a good performance and a good point,” he said. “Could it have been three? I may be being a bit greedy but I felt our chances were of the better quality. They had four on the spin and teams have struggled to deal with their intensity, but I thought we managed it.
“We conceded a poor goal which I was disappointed with. We’ve got away from keeping clean sheets and that’s something we need to get back.”
After a tetchy first half, the visitors fell behind four minutes after the restart when Kyle Bartley sent a looping header over Bartosz Bialkowski (above) from Conor Townsend’s cross.
Daniel Ballard, fresh from netting his first Northern
Ireland goal, levelled on 55 minutes when he headed Jed Wallace’s deep cross back across goal and into the far corner for his first Lions strike.
Baggies keeper Sam Johnstone twice came to his side’s rescue after being left short by Semi Ajayi back-passes.
He stuck out a leg to deny Jed Wallace in the first half and was quickly out to block from debutant Sheyi Ojo with 16 minutes to go.
Albion boss Valerien Ismael was pleased with how his side responded after spurning a penalty in added on time in the first half. A cleverly worked corner saw Grady Diangana burst into the area and go down under a challenge from Maikel Kieftenbeld.
Karlan Grant stepped up but Bialkowski guessed the right way and dived to his right to turn away the striker’s spot-kick.
Ismael said: “The guys reacted very well from the missed penalty, I think we came back strongly and scored.
“But we made too many mistakes at the back and gave Millwall opportunities to give them encouragement. We want more, we want to win games.
“But it’s important we took a point.
“We will learn from the game and adjust. We have momentum but we have to take that into the Derby game on Tuesday.”
WEST BROM: Johnstone 8; Ajayi 6, Bartley 7, Kipre 5; Furlong 6, Livermore 6, Mowatt 6, Townsend 6; Diangana 7 (Hugill 46, 7), Phillips 6, Grant 5 (Robinson 59, 6).
Unused subs: Button, Molumby, Reach, Snodgrass, Taylor.
MILLWALL: Bialkowski 9; Mitchell 7 (Leonard 80), Wallace M 5, Cooper 9, Ballard 8, Malone 7; Kieftenbeld 7, Saville 6; Wallace J 7, Smith 6, Ojo 6 (Bennett 80).
Unused subs: Long, Thompson, Bradshaw, Pearce, Mahoney.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Jake Cooper. Skipper was solid as a rock in the Lions’ rearguard.
REFEREE: Andy Woolmer 5