Millwall moved back into the Championship’s automatic promotion places but could only snatch a late 1-1 draw at already-relegated Leicester.
Substitute Macaulay Langstaff’s first goal since February cancelled out a Foxes opener from Harry Souttar, who was playing his first game since rupturing an Achilles 16 months ago.
The point moved Alex Neil’s visitors up to second, a point ahead of Ipswich – though the Tractor Boys have two games in hand. Ipswich play at West Brom on Saturday and Southampton on Tuesday, so Millwall must hope automatic promotion remains a possibility when they finish their season at home to Oxford next Saturday.
Leicester started with Abdul Fatawu slicing wide before Hamza Choudhury’s intervention stopped Josh Coburn from giving Millwall the lead. Choudhury nicked the ball as Coburn prepared to shoot; Coburn struck Choudhury and had to be replaced by Mihailo Ivanovic in the 10th minute.
Millwall applied pressure with Casper De Norre and Camiel Neghli seeing shots blocked and Ryan Leonard finding the side-netting. Harry Winks scuffed a Leicester reply wide, and Ivanovic required treatment after appearing to be elbowed by Souttar, an incident the referee judged accidental.
Zak Sturge and Derek Mazou-Sacko also went close for Millwall. Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk made his first save five minutes into the second half when Neghli met Sturge’s ball to the back post and Ivanovic saw a close-range hook blocked by Stolarczyk’s legs.
Millwall captain Jake Cooper was booked for a late challenge on Fatawu that left the Leicester man needing on-pitch treatment; home fans felt it warranted a red. Stolarczyk then tipped over Thierno Ballo’s powerful header just before the hour mark. Choudhury was later booked for a robust challenge on Mazou-Sacko and Neghli flashed a pass across the Leicester goal.
Home substitutes Louis Page and Jeremy Monga had efforts deflected before Souttar broke the deadlock in the 78th minute. Luke Thomas crossed to the back post for the Australia defender to bundle home as goalkeeper Anthony Patterson and two defenders tried in vain to stop him.
Millwall pushed for a response and substitute Langstaff provided it in the final minute. Leonard’s flick found Langstaff in space in the box and he lashed the ball past Stolarczyk to earn a point that could prove precious for Millwall’s tally.
Leicester manager Gary Rowett: “It was always going to be a tough evening knowing that we’ve sealed our fate on Tuesday. There was a little bit of me wondering how we would respond and how we would perform. We spoke quite candidly about the need to be professional and to make sure that we did our jobs at the very least. On Souttar: He headed everything out of our box – and then the one opportunity gets in the other box, he attacks it like there’s only one person going to score and we’ve missed that. And for someone to give us that after being out for 450-odd days, it’s quite incredible for him to play 98 minutes. I had the medical and performance team almost begging me at 75 to take him off, but he just kept heading the next ball out.”
Millwall manager Alex Neil: “We are second at the moment, obviously the advantage is with Ipswich, they have a couple of games but there are still points to play for. We are on 80 points at the moment and we have a home game coming up. They’ve got work to do and I’m sure West Brom and Southampton will want to win, as will Oxford when they play us. Football is a strange game, isn’t it? We will see how Ipswich go but I’m a big believer in across the season whoever ends up second deserves to be there. If they manage to do it good luck to them – and it will be our task to attack the play-offs. There’s disappointment that we haven’t won the game. We were never in top-two contention at any point with anybody so these players have done magnificent.”