Barnsley vs Millwall. Sky Bet Championship.
Oakwell Stadium.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at Oakwell
Saturday 27 June 2020 16:37, UK
Barnsley slipped to the bottom of the Sky Bet Championship table after a 0-0 draw with Millwall that did little to help their survival chances.
The Reds breathed fresh life into their designs on avoiding relegation with a 1-0 win at QPR last week, but they could not follow that up on home soil and now prop up the rest of the division after Luton won at Swansea.
They bossed the second half but could not find a breakthrough and are three points from safety going into Saturday's later games.
Millwall might also see it as a missed opportunity to enhance their play-off ambitions as they sit five points off sixth-placed Cardiff.
Gary Rowett's men, who were beaten by Derby last week, came closest to opening the scoring in the first half when Shane Ferguson's free-kick rattled the crossbar, but they did not do enough in front of Barnsley's goal.
The hosts started brightly and Cauley Woodrow tested Bartosz Bialkowski with a wicked free-kick that the goalkeeper did well to tip over.
But Millwall began to take control and they had three opportunities to go in front.
The first was from another free-kick in the 21st minute, which came within inches of going in.
Ferguson's effort from 20 yards was whipped over the wall and crashed into the underside of the crossbar, with goalkeeper Jack Walton beaten.
Soon after from a corner, Jed Wallace flashed a header just wide and then Walton had to get down low to scramble the ball away from his goalline after Mason Bennett's header was deflected towards the bottom corner.
The Reds, looking for just a third home win of 2020, improved after the break and Bialkowski was forced into a good save in the 50th minute as Alex Mowatt shifted the ball on to his left foot and unleashed a powerful 20-yard drive that the Millwall keeper palmed away.
Barnsley were much better and defender Michael Sollbauer had a good chance midway through the second half as he found space in the penalty area, but his header was weak and Bialkowski made an easy save.
The Poland international continued to be the busier of the two keepers and had to be alert to keep out Jacob Brown's effort as Barnsley pushed for an opener.
Both sides had chances to clinch a much-needed three points in injury time, when Mads Andersen fired straight at Bialkowski and Walton had to stretch to keep out Matt Smith's last-ditch header.
Barnsley's Gerhard Struber: "We have no influence over other results. We have seven games for our chance, if we bring the same performance like today and a good style in transition then it will be difficult for the next opponent. Seven games and we have to pick up points. There is no time to cry, we have created a good mood.
"I am happy with the performance, I am happy with the point. Hopefully the results from the other teams are kind for us. It is not in our hands. We have many games for a chance. This gives everyone a good feeling. My boys did a very good job with a high focus but what we need is more control of the ball so we find more chances. Today was difficult, but we also had a big chance through Jacob Brown. It is 0-0, one point. I hope we can pick enough points in the future."
Millwall's Gary Rowett: "We should have won the game but lacked a bit of quality in that final action, it doesn't seem to be quite there at the moment. It was a game we should have gone on to win. At the moment, we have to win games, we have to try and achieve something.
"We are at a point where we need to find momentum. We need a big week, we certainly need to go and win on Tuesday. If we win on Tuesday we at least give ourselves an opportunity, if we don't win on Tuesday I think it is going to be tough. My mindset is we wanted to give ourselves a chance, we were always going to be an outside bet."
