Birmingham and Millwall come out of a deadlock

Gary Rowett continued his grip on former club Birmingham as Millwall took a point from a sterile stalemate at St Andrew’s.

The visitors made the best of the few chances on display with Blues goalkeeper John Ruddy making a smart save to prevent Millwall substitute Tyler Burey’s powerful solo run.

The point keeps Millwall ninth, two points off the Championship play-off places, while the Blues slip one place to 13th.

Since being sacked by Birmingham in 2016, Rowett’s only two defeats against the Blues came in 2018 during a short, unhappy spell as Stoke boss. With first Derby and later Millwall, he has won four and drawn six of his other ten meetings.

His Lions side always looked to break the deadlock in the West Midlands, with Zian Flemming twice going close in the first half, including a clever chip that landed on the roof of Ruddy’s net.

However, Birmingham boast the Championship’s meanest defense – conceding just 15 goals in 18 games – and they continued their recent improvement with a hard-earned point.

However, it took them until stoppage time to register an effort on goal, and even then Lukas Jutkiewicz’s header was a routine save for Lions goalkeeper George Long.

The stalemate was Millwall’s fourth straight draw in their last four visits to St Andrew’s, with the Blues now winless in eight league games in total against the London side, a run dating back to 2018.

Birmingham boss John Eustace told BBC Radio WM:

“We had to show a different side of us tonight. It was never going to be a pretty game of football, the way the conditions were out there and the way Millwall set up, very professional and very good at what they do.

“It’s always going to be a difficult night for us and I’m happy with another clean sheet and another point on the board. I know we weren’t as fluid as we want to be on the ball but we’ve defended our box with our lives.

“Our defensive record is the best in the league which is very pleasing and that comes from a collective, from the whole squad, from the forwards back to John Ruddy.

“We conceded 75 goals last season, which I think was the third or fourth worst in the league, so coming in that was something we wanted to improve on, and so far we’ve done OK.”

Millwall boss Gary Rowett told BBC Radio London 94.9:

“Birmingham have been very good at home in recent games and have played with a real intensity – and I thought we handled that intensity very well.

“It’s a very difficult place to come and the conditions were incredibly difficult as well – and I thought we did really well. To be honest I would have taken a point tonight and that was quite pleasing, a lot of the performance was good .

“We’ve been fighting, we’ve been competing and in the last four away games we’ve drawn two – should have won one of those – won one and lost one which we were disappointed with, so it’s been a bit better on the road and the players have responded.

“I can ask for a bit more quality and composure at times but I can’t ask for much more in terms of effort and fight.”