Super-sub Smith strikes late as Millwall deny Cherries a win

Jason Tindall’s men looked set to grind out a 1-0 win over Millwall at Vitality Stadium, courtesy of Dominic Solanke’s 10th goal of the season.

However, the league’s draw specialists claimed another point on the road as Smith turned in from close-range 11 minutes from time, just seconds having come on as a substitute.

The 1-1 stalemate is the 11th time this term that Gary Rowett’s men have come away with a draw and is a result which leaves Cherries a point behind second-placed Swansea City at the halfway mark of the campaign.

Tindall made wholesale changes from Saturday’s FA Cup win over Oldham Athletic, but just one from the win at Stoke in their last league match, with David Brooks preferred to Sam Surridge.

Fresh off their returns from injury at the weekend, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jack Stacey were among the substitutes, but there was no Dan Gosling in the squad.

Millwall included ex-Cherries Scott Malone and Alex Pearce in their starting line-up. There was also a league debut for young full-back Danny McNamara.

In a game which had been rearranged from Boxing Day, Cherries looked to strike an early blow as Brooks weaved into the box, past Shaun Hutchinson and fired across goal. However, Polish stopper Bartosz Bialkowski tipped the effort behind.

Lewis Cook almost picked the lock soon after with his searching through ball from deep looking like finding Junior Stanislas, but Pearce did just enough to nod clear.

Brooks was back involved with little over 10 minutes on the clock, with the ball eventually worked to Stanislas, whose shot was blocked.

Millwall, seeking just a second Championship win in 14 attempts, were not without threat themselves in the physical and high-tempo encounter.

Midway through the half, they will wonder how they failed to net the opener with three chances in quick succession as the Cherries defence wobbled.

They were indebted to goalkeeper Asmir Begovic for standing strong to deny Jed Wallace one-on-one after the winger had skipped away from Jack Simpson having collected a Ryan Woods pass.

The resulting corner was delivered deep to Ryan Leonard, who in acres of space in the box saw his volley deflected behind. That set piece also caused problems with the towering Jake Cooper rising highest, but his header was superbly headed off the line by the athletic Jefferson Lerma.

Another raking through ball again beat the Cherries defence, but Begovic was alert to come and sweep the danger away from Troy Parrott.

The visitors were looking the more likely scorers and came close again. After Brooks was penalised for hauling back Leonard, Wallace stepped up from the free-kick and called Begovic into a low parry.

Malone was alert on the follow-up, but failed to turn the rebound on target as Cherries survived again.

Diego Rico was then on hand to produce a huge block from McNamara’s effort, with all those misses coming back to haunt the hosts in final moments of the first half.

Solanke had barely had a kick in the opening 45 minutes, but seconds before the break, Stanislas received the ball and spun away before teeing up the striker to lash in left-footed with the power on the shot enough to beat Bialkowski at his near post.

Millwall continued to press aggressively after the restart and overstepped the line with 20 minutes to play as Leonard went into the book for a foul from behind on Stanislas. That proved to be the end of the evening for the midfielder, as he hopped straight down the tunnel with Philip Billing introduced in his place.

Two minutes later, the visitors came inches away from levelling the scores. After Simpson had been penalised for bringing down Kenneth Zohore, the striker stepped up himself from the 20-yard free-kick. The West Brom loanee cleverly directed his left-footed effort underneath the wall, but it struck the foot of the post before being hacked to safety.

Gary Rowett turned to his bench with 12 minutes remaining with a triple change and it paid off instantly. A long ball forwards was flicked on by Cooper to substitute Matt Smith, to turn in left-footed despite a touch from Begovic on its way through.

Cherries looked for an instant reply with Brooks denied by Bialkowski before Tindall called on Saturday’s scorers Rodrigo Riquelme and Joshua King from the bench.

And the latter almost snatched a last-minute winner, with his strike from the edge of the box rippling the side netting as the spoils were shared.

Cherries: Begovic; S Cook, Simpson, Kelly; A Smith, L Cook, Lerma (Riquelme, 83), Rico (Stacey, 87); Brooks (King, 82), Stanislas (Billing, 71), Solanke.

Unused subs: Carter-Vickers, Kilkenny, Anthony, Surridge, Dennis (g/k).

Booked: Lerma.

Millwall: Bialkowski; McNamara, Hutchinson, Pearce (M Smith, 78), Cooper, Malone; Leonard, Woods; J Wallace (Thompson, 84), Parrott (Bodvarsson, 78), Zohore (Bennett, 78).

Unused subs: Romeo, Williams, Ferguson, Bradshaw, Fielding (g/k).

Booked: Cooper, Leonard.

Referee: Tim Robinson.