Leeds salvage a point

Millwall 1 Leeds 1

Rob Hulse struck his fourth goal in as many games to rescue a precious point for Leeds and deny Coca-Cola Championship play-off rivals Millwall victory at the New Den.

The on-loan West Brom striker netted 12 minutes from time to cancel out Millwall defender Paul Robinson’s first league goal for the Lions early in the first half.

The two sides are now locked on 51 points apiece but will view their play-off hopes as still very much alive after the points elevated both sides to within three points off the top six.

The two sides were facing each other in south-east London for the first time since 1987, when the Lions claimed a 3-1 victory at their former home.

Kevin Blackwell’s side, unchanged from their 2-1 victory against West Ham last weekend and with new loan signing Marlon King named on the bench, began brightly and Simon Walton’s vicious 30-yard volley flashed narrowly wide of Andy Marshall’s far post.

With Hulse again forming an adventurous three-pronged attack alongside David Healy and Aaron Lennon, Leeds began to threaten a Millwall side who were missing player-manager Wise, skipper Kevin Muscat and striker Barry Hayles through injury.

United defender Michael Gray curled a delightful free-kick narrowly wide before Millwall began to gain a foothold on the game, with striker Danny Dichio testing Neil Sullivan with a volley from the edge of the box.

Lions midfielder Peter Sweeney then forced Sullivan to tip his shot over from the edge of the box and from the resulting corner, Millwall grabbed the lead after 17 minutes.

Sweeney flighted in a corner left-footed which found Mark Quigley unmarked beyond the far post.

He redirected the ball across the six-yard box where Robinson bundled the ball home off his shins.

The 23-year-old, making his first start of the season for the hosts, has been out of favour with manager Dennis Wise this term and recently had a spell on loan with League One club Torquay.

But with Mark Phillips suspended following his sending-off in the defeat at Brighton last weekend, Robinson was recalled and his scrappy 17th-minute effort rewarded Millwall’s early endeavour.

The hosts continued to press and Quigley saw his delightful long-range volley sail inches wide as the Lions’ youngsters began to dominate.

There were precious few chances during the rest of the first period, but the second half began at breakneck speed which Leeds threatened to profit from.

Just two minutes after the restart, defender Gary Kelly drilled in a fierce shot from 25 yards which was destined for the back of the net until Marshall superbly tipped the ball around the post.

From the resulting corner, Hulse should have done better than head the ball straight at Marshall from the edge of the six-yard box.

Millwall remained a threat, however, and Simpson headed narrowly wide as the tempo began to increase on the pitch whilst tensions rose off it.

Over 2,000 visiting supporters began to roar Leeds on and on the hour-mark, Blackwell withdraw Walton and brought on King to add further firepower to the visitors’ attack.

Suitably reinvigorated, Hulse collected the ball 25 yards out and curled an effort narrowly wide as Leeds edged close to an equaliser.

And with 12 minutes remaining, it duly arrived. Defender Paul Butler nodded the ball down inside the hosts’ box and Hulse was on hand to fire home in typically predatory style to salvage Leeds a priceless point.