Birmingham City 2-2 Millwall: Benik Afobe's late penalty grabs a vital point for Millwall

Oliver Burke celebrates his goalImage source, Rex Features
Image caption,

Oliver Burke (centre) equalised for Millwall, wiping out Juninho Bacuna's opener for Birmingham

Benik Afobe scored a 96th-minute penalty to earn Millwall a crucial point at Birmingham City in their push for the play-offs.

Juninho Bacuna put the Blues ahead two minutes into the second half with a low strike, but Oliver Burke found the Lions a crucial equaliser.

Lyle Taylor reinstated Birmingham's lead with 11 minutes to go from the penalty spot after he was brought down, but there was late drama after Jake Cooper was also fouled inside the box with seconds left on the clock, and Afobe stepped up to draw Millwall level.

Millwall remain in seventh, three points behind Sheffield United, who occupy the final play-off spot, with two games remaining.

Birmingham came into the match stuck in 20th place on the run of three straight defeats and having conceded 12 goals - including a humiliating 6-1 thrashing to Blackpool.

Manager Lee Bowyer had called for his players to 'step up' for the fixture with Millwall and he saw an almost instant reaction when Gary Gardner's free-kick hit the post after only three minutes.

Millwall grew into the game, however, and Murray Wallace forced a good save out of Neil Etheridge before Ivan Sunjic superbly prevented Shaun Hutchinson from scoring with a block on the line.

Bacuna then rattled a second shot against the woodwork for Birmingham just before the break, after being set up by Onel Hernandez.

Hernandez picked up where he left off in the second half, teeing up Bacuna to slot into the net.

Millwall needed to get something out of the match to keep up their hopes of getting into the top six and when Mason Bennett whipped a cross into the box and Danny McNamara headed it back across goal, Burke was on hand to draw them level.

Taylor had appeared to give Birmingham all three points when he scored from the spot with only 11 minutes to go, but there was late drama when Gary Rowett's side were awarded their own penalty deep in stoppage time and Afobe tucked it away.

Birmingham City head coach Lee Bowyer told BBC Radio WM:

"I have to praise the players for the effort that they just put in. The fighting spirit. That's what we are and when we come off it shows a lot.

"To have the result we did last time out and then to put in that performance shows a lot from the players so, I have to say, I'm pleased that we got that reaction.

"Most of all I'm pleased for the fans because the last thing I wanted to do was come and play against a Millwall side and they could have easily run over the top of us, but every player stood up man for man and was counted today.

"We should have won the game for sure. I think Bacuna's chance in the first half hits the bar, he's a very technically gifted player and I would expect him to finish that. But he took his goal well and got us going.

"In the end, another decision - a bad decision - goes against us and then we end up only getting a point but we deserved all three for sure."

Millwall manager Gary Rowett said:

"We threw everything we had at it. We made too many mistakes in the game and didn't do the basics well enough at this stage of the season to pass the ball and open the game up.

"What we have got is fabulous desire and character. We ended up with Oliver Burke at right wing-back, Tyler Burey at left wing-back and Jake Cooper up front on his own. Maybe, just because of that, we deserved something out of the game.

'We've got to win those games and if we win those games, what you've seen is teams faltering all around the top 10 - teams with far better squads than ours. But we're still in there because we've got character."

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