Below-par Lions have to settle for draw with struggling Bristol City

Millwall (0) 0

Bristol City (0) 0

A subdued Millwall missed a chance to seize a top six place as they were held by lowly Bristol City.

They looked tired and assembled an error-strewn display and despite putting together a couple of spells of pressure after the break, created little. Boos from home fans greeted the final whistle.

They might even have lost it after the visitors went close on two occasions, as the one-way traffic home fans might have expected - given the visitors’ recent struggles at the wrong end of the table – never materialised.

George Long needed to be alert to spring off his line and block Antoine Semenyo’s shot before the Ghanaian World Cup international could profit from a favourable bounce.

And the Lions got lucky soon after when Andreas Weimann screwed wide from close range when it looked easier to score.

It was a far-cry from the excellent Boxing Day display at Watford which brought them a 2-0 win.

Gary Rowett’s men are currently riding the crest of a wave, with only two defeats in 12 before tonight, but they did not look like the form side early on and it needed a near-miss from visiting striker Tommy Conway to stir them into action after a tepid opening 20 minutes.

Murray Wallace cut in from the left before going close to get the voices rising and then Tyler Burey’s cross was met with a flashing near-post header from Tom Bradshaw which flew just wide.

The closest they came was when a rasping edge-of the box drive from Andreas Voglsammer just before the interval almost broke the deadlock, but a ricochet off a defender took the ball onto the crossbar.

Lions: (4-2-3-1) Long – McNamara, Hutchinson, Cooper, Wallace – Mitchell, Saville (Shackleton 79) – Voglsammer (Honeyman 79), Flemming, Burey (Styles 60) - Bradshaw (Afobe 79). Subs not used: Cresswell, Esse

Robins: (3-5-2) O’Leary - Atkinson, Naismith, Pring – Vyner, Weimann, James, Scott, Tanner – Conway (Wells 69), Semenyo. Subs not used: Bentley, Dasilva, Williams, King, Sykes, Bell

Attendance: 14,814