Millwall 1-1 Derby County: Lions hit back to deny Rams first away win

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Millwall and Derby County at The Den on Saturday; Mihailo Ivanovic cancels out Jerry Yates as Neil Harris' Lions hit back to hold Paul Warne's Rams.

Saturday 19 October 2024 18:09, UK

Mihailo Ivanovic's first goal for Millwall rescued a 1-1 Championship draw against Derby in what turned out to be a slow-burner at The Den.

Ivanovic, the 19-year-old Serbian striker signed from Vojvodina on transfer deadline day, took his late equaliser superbly after Jerry Yates' untidy 78th-minute opener had threatened to steal the points for the Rams.

The visitors eventually had to settle for their first point away from home this season, in truth a fair result after a contest that took a long time to get going.

Derby striker Corey Blackett-Taylor had the game's first opening in the second minute when he cut inside, after being found in space by Marcus Harness, before bending his shot from a narrow angle over.

Rams goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom was the first of the shot-stoppers to be called into action in the 15th minute when he needed to beat away George Honeyman's effort.

Millwall were starting to take control, and they came within a whisker of going ahead when Duncan Watmore's through-ball played in Macauley Langstaff, whose dinked finish over Zetterstrom hit the post.

Romain Esse then miscued a shot wide from the edge of the area following a poor clearance as the Lions continued to press for an opener.

Yates curling an effort high and wide five minutes before the break rather summed up the limited threat the visitors posed in the first half, which finished goalless with the game needing a spark.

George Saville will have been relieved to see the offside flag go up after he looked to have clipped Blackett-Taylor in the area within a minute of the restart.

Langstaff then had another good chance to put Millwall ahead in the 51st minute when he got in behind Eiran Cashin, only for Zetterstrom to stand strong and save with his foot.

This was not the precursor to more goalmouth action, however, with a free-kick and a long-range strike from Joe Bryan threatening fans in the second tier of the Cold Blow Lane End more than the Derby net.

Esse's shot in the 74th minute at least went nearer to it, but it was a tame effort on the stretch that Zetterstrom could gather with ease.

Derby then snatched the lead with 12 minutes remaining when Nathaniel Mendez-Laing's corner flicked off Millwall substitute Femi Azeez before a scramble at the back post led to Yates bundling in.

But substitute Ivanovic made himself a hero to the Lions' supporters by coming to the rescue with five minutes left as he ran onto the ball rebounding off Esse before calmly rounding Zetterstrom and finishing.

The managers

Millwall's Neil Harris:

"It might look like a really good point and a recovery, but we're better than that here at The Den.

"They've had one effort on goal and scored. I think (Derby forward Corey) Blackett-Taylor should do better in the second half when he cuts it into the advertising hoardings, but apart from that, that (Yates goal) was their first shot in our penalty area, near our goal, and the ball ends up in our net.

"Our mentality is not good enough, we have to do better than that.

"Before that, we should be in front. We had three really good chances to score and in my pre-match presser, I talked about how good our expected goals is, for and against.

"But I'm fed up with talking about it, so I'm not going to talk about it anymore after today, where again we're not ruthless enough in one penalty area and we get punished in the other.

"Fortunately, the big Serbian geezer comes on and rescues a point for us."

Derby's Paul Warne:

"We told the lads about their threats - they put a lot of throw-ins in the box, a lot of free-kicks in the box, a lot of corners in the box which you have to really stand up to, and I thought we did.

"I thought we were really well-organised, won a lot of first contacts, so I felt like we nullified it well and I didn't think they were going to score, but unfortunately, randomly, something happened and we conceded.

"I thought we looked quite resolute, they did have a really good chance first half, I thought we'd won a penalty - I didn't think it was offside - and then I just thought at times we were really dangerous on the counter.

"We had a couple of really good chances that I'd like us to take, obviously, but maybe over the course of the play, a draw is a fair response."