Luton Town 1-1 Millwall: George Evans' last-gasp header earns Lions draw
- Published
January signing Elijah Adebayo scored his first Luton goal on his first start - but did not end up on the winning side
George Evans' 95th-minute header earned Millwall their 16th Championship draw of the season to rescue a point against Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.
January signing Elijah Adebayo looked to have won it for the hosts after opening his Luton goalscoring account in the 55th minute.
The former Walsall striker was given his first start by Hatters boss Nathan Jones and responded when he trapped Ryan Tunnicliffe's right-wing cross beautifully at the far post before rather scuffing a low left-foot shot which squirmed under Millwall keeper Bartosz Bialkowski.
But Gary Rowett's Millwall are not renowned as the second tier's draw kings for nothing, and Evans salvaged yet another point to stretch their unbeaten run to eight games, five of which have been draws.
It was midfielder Evans' first goal for the club since arriving from Derby on transfer deadline day at the start of the month.
But, although Adebayo could have made it 2-0 moments after his goal, when he headed over at the back post, Millwall deserved an equaliser for their spirited late finish.
First, Scott Malone's cross almost caught out keeper Simon Sluga, who had to tip onto his own bar and behind.
The Croatian then stood up excellently to keep out Mason Bennett's close-range shot, then tipped away Jed Wallace's free-kick, before Mahlon Romeo scuffed waywardly after a rare short set-piece.
Substitute Matt Smith then hooked a volley over at the back post following a deep cross. But big striker Smith's aerial presence proved telling when Shaun Williams crossed and he headed on for former Manchester City youngster Evans to steal in at the far post and head home.
January window signing George Evans' 95th-minute equalising header at Luton was his first goal in three and a half years
Luton Town manager Nathan Jones:
"When you've only got one goal you're always susceptible, especially against a side like these who go direct and we've come unstuck. But I'm really disappointed.
"It's really hard to speak about all the positives as I feel so down. We probably deserved three points but it's so disappointing with the lateness of the goal and the manner.
"We knew when they brought Matt Smith on what's going to happen and we've worked for that. We've had two six-foot-plus players marking him on the back post and we still lose the header.
"The performance was positive. We made a lot of changes and it was chalk and cheese from the ineptitude that we showed on Saturday (against Stoke) so at least we had a reaction."
Millwall boss Gary Rowett:
"It wasn't a great performance from us. Overall we had by far the better chances, but just couldn't play with that calmness in front of goal.
"But we did enough to get in some good positions and then we had our one moment of quality.
"Shaun Williams looks like he's going to cross it, chops it back on to his right foot, puts over the cross, Smudge heads it and George continues a really good start to his Millwall career by getting us a point.
"It was just a lack of quality within our team. I thought it was going to be a difficult game, as we can't make lots and lots of changes. Luton made five, but we couldn't do that as we've got so many injuries."