Szmodics strike earns Blackburn draw against Millwall
Sammie Szmodics has scored in each of his last three games for BlackburnSammie Szmodics’ 20th Championship goal of the season earned Blackburn Rovers a point against fellow strugglers Millwall.
Michael Obafemi’s first goal for the Lions put them ahead, but Szmodics hit back to deny the visitors what would have been a third consecutive win since Neil Harris’ recent return for a second spell as boss.
Obafemi, on as a half-time substitute – and on loan from Blackburn’s arch-rivals Burnley – struck on 54 minutes.
The striker controlled the ball near the edge of the penalty area, evaded a couple of challenges and took advantage of a ricochet off a Rovers defender by blasting an unstoppable shot past keeper Leopold Wahlstedt.
However, a mistake by Danny McNamara seven minutes later led to the division’s top scorer equalising.
McNamara’s stray pass near the edge of his own penalty area fell straight to Arnor Sigurdsson and the Icelander teed up Szmodics, who coolly slotted past keeper Matija Sarkic.
It came shortly after Szmodics fired into the side netting from a tight angle after being found by John Buckley’s through ball.
While Harris has made an immediate impact at Millwall, Blackburn are without a victory in six league matches and have won just one of their seven games since John Eustace took over as boss.
Rovers remain 17th in the table – one place above Millwall – and their home form remains a problem. They have won one of their past seven matches at Ewood Park.
They badly need a home win on Saturday against Plymouth, who sit immediately above them in the table on goal difference.
Millwall, meanwhile, will be at to home to Birmingham – the team immediately below them – in another crucial game in the battle to stay up.
Blackburn boss John Eustace:
“It wasn’t a classic but again the lads have shown fantastic character and togetherness, to come from a goal behind against a difficult opponent.
“I was pleased with the reaction. We dominated possession without really testing their keeper, but we worked hard and stuck together and it was a good point in the end.
“The boys since I’ve come in have been fantastic. We’re playing players who have come back from long injuries and they are running through brick walls for us. They are leggy and tired but they are fully committed to the cause.
“There’s a lot of teams from around 10th spot down that can be involved in the relegation fight and it’s just vital we keep believing in what we’re doing.”
Millwall manager Neil Harris:
“We’re really pleased with the points total of seven from three games. The glass is definitely half full and there are lots of positives that I’ve learned today.”
“Danny is disappointed but he will stand up and take responsibility and there were other things we didn’t do well in the build-up to the goal, so there is no individual blame culture.
“The big thing for me is that we came off and we gave a really poor goal away but the players all mentioned that it was a really good point for us tonight.”
Line-upsBlackburnFormation 3-4-2-1
12Wahlstedt5Hyam55McFadzean16S Wharton2BrittainSubstituted forChriseneat 45’minutes21Buckley30GarrettSubstituted forAyariat 61’minutes3Pickering10DolanSubstituted forSigurdssonat 61’minutes9GallagherSubstituted forMarkandayat 84’minutes8SzmodicsSubstitutes4O’Riordan7Sigurdsson14Koumetio18Markanday24Moran33Telalovic38Michalski44Ayari45ChriseneMillwallFormation 4-4-2
20Sarkic18Leonard6TangangaBooked at 36mins5Cooper2McNamaraSubstituted forBryanat 75’minutes22EmakhuSubstituted forObafemiat 45’minutes8Mitchell23Saville39Honeyman11LongmanSubstituted forNorton-Cuffyat 75’minutes10FlemmingSubstituted forWatmoreat 90’minutesSubstitutes3M Wallace12Mayor15Bryan17Norton-Cuffy19Watmore21Obafemi24De Norre25Esse33BialkowskiReferee:Jeremy Simpson
Attendance:11,711
Match StatsLive TextMatch ends, Blackburn Rovers 1, Millwall 1.
Second Half ends, Blackburn Rovers 1, Millwall 1.
Foul by Kyle McFadzean (Blackburn Rovers).
George Honeyman (Millwall) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Corner, Blackburn Rovers. Conceded by Matija Sarkic.
Attempt saved. Yasin Ayari (Blackburn Rovers) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Substitution, Millwall. Duncan Watmore replaces Zian Flemming.
Foul by Dominic Hyam (Blackburn Rovers).
Zian Flemming (Millwall) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Yasin Ayari (Blackburn Rovers) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by George Honeyman (Millwall).
Yasin Ayari (Blackburn Rovers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Zian Flemming (Millwall).
Substitution, Blackburn Rovers. Dilan Markanday replaces Sam Gallagher.
Foul by Ben Chrisene (Blackburn Rovers).
Ryan Leonard (Millwall) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match because of an injury Japhet Tanganga (Millwall).
Attempt blocked. Sammie Szmodics (Blackburn Rovers) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Ben Chrisene.
Foul by John Buckley (Blackburn Rovers).
