Millwall 0 – 0 Crystal Palace: Den Stalemate Leaves Season on a Knife Edge for Final Day.

A high stakes South London Derby was full of work rate and endeavour but short on quality as chances were at a premium at a nervous Den. Palace sold out their 2,000 ticket allocation knowing a victory would secure a playoff place. Millwall needed the points for very different reasons; knowing victory would secure their place in the Championship for another season. As a result of the stakes involved in the game the intensity level on the pitch was high. Neither side could stomach defeat given the stage of the season, so Millwall’s work rate combined with Palace’s poor run of form meant this was a match of few chances that was always likely to finish goalless.

Yannick Bolasie and Owen Garvan returned to the Palace line up with Aaron Wilbraham and Stephen Dobbie dropping to the bench. Fresh from the weekend draw with Blackburn, Palace have struggled for form going into this derby match having not won for eight games. Combined with the fact Millwall has one of the poorest home records in the Championship quality is never going to be present in abundance. What made this derby so fascinating to watch and nerve racking for supporters was how much was at stake in terms of both teams’ seasons.

Both teams ended up relatively satisfied with a point, but in truth this was a game where not a lot happened in front of goal. Both teams’ defences were never really threatened. Joel Ward was again solid for Palace while Danny Shittu was immense for Millwall and Alan Dunne marshalled Wilfried Zaha very well. Indeed he almost got into Zaha’s head as the Manchester United bound youngster played his penultimate league match for Crystal Palace.

As the game developed Palace had the edge in terms of quality but Millwall’s hard work and industry kept Palace at bay in a keenly fought London Derby. Glenn Murray could have had a penalty for the second match in a row. Twice he had chances, played in by Garvan his control let him down at a crucial stage and he just failed to beat Forde to feed Garvan in on goal. Williams was given a quarter of an hour to make an impact in the second half but it was Bolasie who really tested Forde with a snap shot after cutting in off the wing. Delaney also scooped a golden chance wide to win late on.

Millwall also had their chances. Showing admirable work rate Josh Wright, Shaun Batt, and Andy Keogh all had opportunities. The Palace defence held firm however free from the mistakes that had blighted recent performances. Kenny Jackett had the unfortunate job of substituting the substitute because of a poor performance after just fourteen minutes on the pitch. Danny N’guessan was hauled off for not playing to the required standard for a derby on eighty seven minutes.

After this goalless draw both sides have work to do. Millwall requiring a point at Derby County to be safe, Palace need to do the same at home to Peterborough on the final day of the season to achieve a playoff berth.