Gary Rowett gives his honest verdict on key flashpoints in Millwall’s 2-2 with Birmingham City

Millwall faced Birmingham City yesterday in a game that finished 2-2.

Both teams scored from penalties in the final 15 minutes of the game.

Lyle Taylor put the Blues ahead in the 79th minute after he was brought down in the box whilst Benik Afobe scored in the 98th minute to level things again after Jake Cooper was fouled at the other end.

However, Millwall boss felt as though both penalty shouts were unfair as he told Birmingham Live: “I didn’t think the other one [Birmingham’s] was a penalty either.

“I’ve seen both of them back and the amount of pulling and shoving in the box all game, it’s not easy for a referee but it’s frustrating on the side.

“Corners are coming in and people are grabbing people and nothing gets done. Lyle Taylor went down a little bit easy for the first one and Coops [Jake Cooper] went down a little bit easy for the second one.

“If you are going to give one you have to give the other. None of them were penalties. At that late stage we needed a lifeline, we threw everything at it, we made too many mistakes in the game.”

However despite disagreeing with the decisions, Rowett was full of praise for Afobe who stepped up and scored the penalty as he said: “Birmingham were better than us in the first half but we probably shaded it second half in terms of chances.

“Never-say-die spirit and for Benik to step up in that moment, to show that type of composure to take the penalty in that way – to wait for the keeper – takes a lot of courage and that point could be huge for us.”

The Verdict: 

It’s not often you see a manager come out and say his side didn’t deserve to be given the penalty that gained them a point but as Rowett said, he didn’t think either were fair.

Despite thinking that though, he is