Joe Bryan scored his second own goal of the week as Millwall were held to a 1-1 draw against Sky Bet Championship play-off chasers West Brom.
Bryan had put through his own net to open the scoring in the Lions’ 5-1 thrashing at Plymouth on Wednesday night and his latest unfortunate moment cancelled out Jake Cooper’s opener.
Sixth-placed West Brom found themselves under severe pressure in the closing stages at The Den, but held on for a draw that puts them one point clear of nearest challengers Coventry in the race for the play-offs.
Following a 15-minute delay to kick-off due to travel congestion, West Brom almost took the lead with 58 seconds played when Adam Armstrong’s shot from the edge of the area needed saving by Millwall goalkeeper Lukas Jensen.
The hosts’ first opportunity came after six minutes when Bryan’s ball from the left ran for Casper De Norre, who set himself before bending wide from just outside the box.
The Lions had begun to control proceedings and came close again when Femi Azeez drove a shot across goal that went just wide of the far post.
A deserved breakthrough then came Millwall’s way in the 19th minute when Azeez’s cross from the right found Cooper in the area and the skipper found the net with a towering header.
However, West Brom were level seven minutes later when Darnell Furlong’s low cross came off Bryan and trickled into the bottom corner.
The Baggies almost completed a rapid turnaround when Grady Diangana was allowed to cut inside and get a shot away that ricocheted off a defender onto the underside of the crossbar.
It was all-square at half-time with the visitors on top, but Millwall were the team who began the second half the stronger.
Cooper almost put them in front for the second time eight minutes after the restart when his back-post header from Bryan’s corner was tipped over by West Brom goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith.
From the resulting corner, again taken by Bryan, Japhet Tanganga produced a good header that produced an even better save by Wildsmith, with the rebound not quite running for Aaron Connolly.
An entertaining match then entered its first lull of the afternoon, which was eventually broken by Millwall substitute Camiel Neghli tamely heading Tristan Crama’s cross at Wildsmith.
The Lions continued to press for a winner, with Neghli having another chance with seven minutes remaining when Wildsmith needed to push his rising effort over.
Wildsmith’s heart would have momentarily been in his mouth in the 87th minute when he fumbled another shot from Neghli, but he was up quickly to prevent Luke Cundle putting in the loose ball.
