Millwall v Crystal Palace: FA Cup third round – live!

The whistle goes, and Crystal Palace are in the hat for the fourth round.

90 min +5: Nope! One more! Space for Bennett down the right. He hooks in for Smith, who rises above Andersen, six yards out, but sends a weak header straight at Butland. That was a great chance for the big man.

90 min +4: Hutchinson meets the corner with a weak header. Butland flops on the ball, and Millwall’s last chance may have come and gone.

90 min +3: The free kick’s sent wide right to Burey, who fizzes a fine low cross through the six-yard box. Any touch, and it’s in. It somehow evades everyone in the middle, and finally deflects out for a corner.

90 min +2: Gallagher steps across Burey and that’s a free kick for Millwall in Palace territory. Malone will take. Everyone lines up just outside the box.

90 min +1: Smith causes some brief panic in the Palace defence, challenging for a long ball on the edge of the box. But Palace regroup well, and eventually Billy Mitchell is forced to run the ball out for a goal kick by his namesake Tyrick.

90 min: Millwall will have five extra minutes in which to rescue their situation.

89 min: A minute of sterile Palace possession. Every second counts.

88 min: Palace make a couple of changes. Schlupp and the marvellous Olise make way for Clyne and Riedewald.

87 min: Billy Mitchell curls one in from the right. It’s a dangerous ball. Guehi flicks a header away from the lurking Cooper. Boateng slides in at the far post but can’t bundle home. So close to taking this to extra time!

85 min: Long is good to continue.

84 min: Olise nearly releases Gallagher down the right. Long slides out to smother. Gallagher accidentally clips the keeper in the mouth. On comes the trainer to see what’s what.

83 min: Butland is booked for timewasting.

82 min: Palace respond by replacing Hughes with the more defensive-minded Milivojevic.

81 min: Millwall swap out their entire front line. Off go Ojo, Adobe and Bradshaw; on come Burey, Boateng and Smith.

80 min: Millwall are winning most of the 50-50s right now. Palace are dropping deeper, looking to hang onto their lead.

78 min: Afobe, his back to goal just inside the Palace box, tees up Bennett, who sidefoots carefully towards the bottom left. No oomph behind it, though, and it’s an easy gather for Butland.

77 min: Ward barges Bennett out on the left, and it’s a free kick in a dangerous position for Millwall, who load the box. Hutchinson sends it in, but it’s cleared well by Ward, mopping up his own mess.

76 min: A couple of crisp, clear C-bombs ring out across the nation on lunchtime ITV. The home fans have their dander up.

74 min: Ojo curls one in from the right. Malone hasn’t gambled, and Gallagher can shepherd the ball out for a goal kick. Millwall are finally asking a couple of questions.

72 min: A game of bagatelle in the Palace box. The ball drops to Afobe, but he can’t send an effort goalward. A little better from the hosts, though.

71 min: A bit of possession for Millwall, but they do very little with it. Palace look set for the fourth round right now, unless the hosts can haul themselves up off the canvas.

69 min: Ojo sends a directionless cross in from the right. Millwall haven’t achieved much in this second half.

67 min: As Olise prepares to take the corner, he’s hit on the head by what looks like a plastic bottle. No harm done to the player, thankfully, but what’s wrong with people? Anyway, nothing comes of the resulting set piece.

66 min: Gallagher sends a deep cross in from the right. McNamara is forced to head behind for a corner. Olise goes over to take it.

64 min: Palace respond with a double change of their own, replacing Eze and Mateta with Benteke and Edouard. No respite for Millwall.

62 min: Millwall make their second change, and this time it’s a tactical one. Bennett comes on to bolster the midfield, replacing centre-back Pearce.

61 min: The restart took a while, incidentally, a result of some dim bulb flinging a flare onto the pitch. Expect plenty of added time at the end of this game.

60 min: What a cross that was. In the first 13 minutes of the second half, Olise has scored one, set up another, and hit the woodwork. The third round of the FA Cup, right here!

Olise is borderline unplayable at the moment. Palace break, and Olise is sent scampering down the right. He eases past Cooper, checks, then curls a delicious cross onto Mateta’s head. Mateta can’t miss, and doesn’t, steering a clinical header across Long and into the bottom left. That’s a lovely goal.

56 min: Local lad Billy Mitchell is booked for a cynical clip on Gallagher’s heel.

55 min: Speaking of Selhurst, here’s a reminder that there are no replays in this year’s FA Cup, a consequence of this goddamned pandemic. This tie will be decided today, after extra time and penalties if necessary.

54 min: Olise versus Malone out on the right, take three. This time, having made space for yet another shot, his curler, aimed for the top left, sails harmlessly over the bar.

53 min: Kieftenbeld balloons a long-distance effort miles over the bar. That one’s already halfway to Selhurst Park.

51 min: Olise is this close to making a carbon copy of his goal. He swans in from the right with panache, leaves Malone in his wake again, and curls a shot across Long and onto the far post. This time the ball bounces clear, rather than in. So unlucky, but what a sensational six minutes he’s had!

50 min: Saville has tweaked something and can’t continue. He trudges off glumly, to be replaced by Kieftenbeld.

48 min: That was a peach of a finish, though Malone may reflect that he backed off far too eagerly. Incidentally, Mateta was half a yard offside during the build-up, and in the Premier League, VAR would have almost certainly chalked that off. But there’s no VAR here.

A mere 47 seconds into the second half, Palace are level. And what an equaliser! Olise is given too much space down the right by Malone. He enters the box, switches his feet, and sends a glorious left-foot curler across Long and off the far post and in. The sweetest of strikes!

Millwall get the second half underway. Some head tennis. No half-time changes.

There’s just enough time for Andersen and Hutchinson to grapple in the box, and for a frustrated Andersen to then shoulder charge Malone to the ground. And that’s it for the first half. A good old-fashioned cup-tie, this, and it’s set up perfectly for the second half.

45 min +2: Another sliding tackle by Saville, and this one had to be perfectly timed, Eze preparing to meet Schlupp’s left-wing cross on the penalty spot. He whips the ball away from his toe from behind, and out for a corner. What a challenge!

45 min: Saville slides through the back of Andersen, who responds by cuffing his assailant around the ear as he falls. No action by the referee for that retro back-and-forth. All good

clean
filthy fun.

44 min: Ojo rampages down the right in style, and looks to be bodychecked by Tyrick Mitchell, but the referee’s having none of it. Ojo has looked very neat and tidy this afternoon.

42 min: Gallagher wins a free kick out on the left, then hoicks it straight out of play himself. He holds his hand up to apologise to all of his team-mates in Millwall’s loaded box.

41 min: From the resulting free kick, Bradshaw bursts clear down the inside-right channel and finds himself in on goal. The flag pops up for offside. It turns out Bradshaw was onside, but there’s no VAR, and Bradshaw fluffs the chance anyway.

40 min: Ojo skins Guehi down the right touchline, and is upended with a flick of the Palace defender’s boot. Guehi is fortunate not to go into the book.