West Brom was unable to defeat Millwall despite hitting the crossbar twice during the 0-0 draw, but they also owed Alex Palmer thanks to his first-half penalty save.
Prior to Alex Mowatt and Brandon Thomas-Asante hitting the post-half woodwork, Palmer stopped Millwall forward Zian Flemming from scoring from the penalty spot in the 27th minute.
Despite having drawn their previous three games, the outcome means West Brom have now gone four games without a victory.
Following a 3-0 victory over Rotherham in midweek, Millwall kept a clean sheet for a second time in a row.
Both teams struggled to get going in a boring first half that included too many errors and too few chances on a day when The Hawthorns stood to honor the late West Brom player Ian Hamilton, who passed away recently at the age of 55.
Carlos Corberan, the head coach of West Brom, made five changes from Wednesday’s 2-2 draw against Watford, although those who were brought back hardly seemed to have made a difference.
After the half, West Brom picked up the pace and had multiple opportunities to gain the upper hand, but tenacious Millwall defending kept them from doing so.Millwall almost took a second-minute lead in bizarre circumstances.
Duncan Watmore, a striker, was hit by Palmer’s clearance from a back pass, and the ball went dangerously close to the goal, forcing Palmer to tip the ball over.
The opening opportunity for the home team belonged to Grady Diangana, who was hoping to make a good first impression on his season debut. However, his low shot was deflected wide.
When Millwall was given a penalty, the first half really got started.
Kyle Bartley, who had twice been sent off for treatment after suffering a facial injury during an aerial collision, handled Ryan Longman’s corner.
Palmer, however, managed to block Flemming’s penalty attempt as it went low to his right.
Tom Bradshaw’s glancing header from the ensuing corner, which Longman swung in, missed the far post.
West Brom came out of the gate strong in the second half and twice came within inches of scoring in the 50th minute.
Bartosz Bialkowski made a save on Thomas-Asante’s attempt, and Longman stopped Matt Phillips’ follow-up shot after Diangana crossed the ball.
With a low drive from 25 yards that Bialkowski lost, Erik Pieters kept the hosts’ momentum going. Thomas-Asante was unable to connect with a teammate with the loose ball.
Even after Mowatt’s curling free-kick hit the underside of the crossbar in the 63rd minute, West Brom still appeared to be the team more likely to score.
Semi Ajayi cast an unintentionally wide glance during the ensuing melee.
In the 73rd minute, Albion again struck the woodwork.
Conor Townsend crossed, Phillips nodded back into the danger zone, and two Millwall defenders intervened to deflect Thomas-Asante’s header this time onto the bar.
At the very last moment, Thomas-Asante’s close-range header from Mowatt’s deep cross was incomplete.
Leave a Reply