Success of new frontline partnership the biggest plus for Millwall as Championship unbeaten run ended

BY ALEX GRACE

All good things must come to an end.

And they did for Millwall at Oakwell on Saturday afternoon. The Lions were on the longest unbeaten run in the EFL before Saturday’s 2-1 defeat in South Yorkshire.

Millwall’s record at Oakwell is not one that would fill you with optimism. It’s now five defeats in the last seven trips there, with just one win in that period.

Being solid has been Millwall’s hallmark this season alongside being able to stay in games and at least grind out a draw, but manager Gary Rowettt was left disappointed by their defending.

“We didn’t defend the set-pieces and unfortunately that’s been our undoing,” said Rowett.

It was only the third time this season the Lions have conceded a goal from a set-piece. This followed the second goal at Swansea and the third at Nottingham Forest in January. Hence the surprise for Rowett that Millwall found it tough to deal with their hosts’ set plays.

Millwall did seem a little taken aback by Barnsley’s incredibly direct style of play. It is a style that has been rewarded with the Tykes winning their last five games in succession to put themselves in the frame for a Championship play-off spot.

It was a game that started at pace with two goals inside the opening six minutes. Millwall could have been in front within the first 60 seconds, Ryan Woods almost setting Jed Wallace away. Just a minute later though it was 1-0 to Barnsley.

It was a goal that Gary Rowett and the entire Millwall team felt shouldn’t have stood. Alex Mowatt’s free-kick into the box looked to have been headed on by Mads Andersen to Cauley Woodrow, who appeared to be in an offside position when he placed the ball past Bart Bialkowski.

A new strike partnership of Mason Bennett and Jed Wallace was given it’s debut and the pair combined for the equaliser in the sixth minute. Wallace’s pass to Bennett led the Millwall break up the pitch and Bennett finished superbly into the bottom corner to restore parity to the proceedings.

The partnership of Bennett and Wallace was causing Barnsley’s Michael Sollbauer a number of problems. The two combined again midway through the first half to create a chance but the return ball to Scott Malone was just too heavy.

Tykes head coach Valerien Ismael spotted this and made a change at half-time. He introduced former Wimbledon defender Toby Sibbick and that really blunted Millwall going forward in the second half. They got nowhere near the amount of joy from Sibbick that they were getting from Sollbauer in the first half.

Nevertheless, chances did still come Millwall’s way. Shaun Williams beat a defender down the left hand side and crossed for Bennett, whose swinging header was straight at Collins in the Barnsley goal.

From that point onwards though, the hosts controlled proceedings. Alex Mowatt forced Bialkowksi into a superb stop from a free-kick, Woodrow then stung the palms of the Poland-born stopper before Callum Britain’s rebound was blocked away for a corner. It was from that the winner came. Failure to deal with the corner saw Mowatt send another testing ball into the box that Andersen flicked on to his centre-half partner Hellik who was given the freedom of South Yorkshire and finished with aplomb past Bialkowksi.

Had it not been for another excellent Bialkowksi save it could have been worse, the keeper making a full-stretch save to claw out Carlton Morris’ header from the bottom corner – yet again Mowatt with the delivery. The Barnsley skipper was wanted by the Lions in January and based on this game you could see the class he would have added to Millwall’s ranks and the quality he would deliver from deadball situations.

Despite defeat, there are a lot of positives for Millwall to take into Preston tonight. The success of the Wallace-Bennett partnership was the main satisfaction for Rowett. Pace was the answer to getting in behind the Barnsley defence and they stuck to their brief. Pace could be the answer again against North End at The Den.

This performance showed that Bennett’s best position, and the one where he is the most effective, is through the middle. He started Derby’s play-off final against Aston Villa two seasons ago in a central role and he certainly looks a lot more comfortable in that position. Millwall’s problem has been scoring goals – hence why there have been so many different partnerships up front. Tom Bradshaw, Matt Smith, Bennett, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Kenneth Zohore account for just 15 of Millwall’s 32 goals, averaging out at just five each – not enough for a team that want to be in top six contention.

It’s a first defeat in 10 league games for Rowett’s men but he will take confidence from the fact that his side caused problems to a side that are on a terrific run of form with their confidence at a sky-high level.

STAR MAN
Alex Mowatt. The Barnsley skipper was at the heart of everything good for his side.

BEST MOMENT
The link up between Jed Wallace and Mason Bennett to bring about Millwall’s equaliser in the sixth minute.