BRISTOL Rovers snatched an undeserved victory over Millwall with a last-minute winner from Craig Disley at The Den on Saturday to deny the Lions vital points towards League One survival.
Millwall had dominated possession throughout the match, but just like the reverse fixture in November when Lewis Haldane netted late on to claim all three points for Rovers, they again grabbed a late winning goal.
This time Haldane turned provider, swinging in a deep cross which Disley glanced past Rhys Evans in the Millwall goal.
The sucker-punch left Lions boss Kenny Jackett frustrated: "We had the lion's share of possession, but we didn't really create enough and that's disappointing because this felt like a winnable game for most of the afternoon."
Millwall started the game brightly, maintaining possession well, although struggling to find a way through a determined Bristol Rovers back line.
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The best chance of the first period fell to Ali Fuseini when he somehow bundled the ball past three Rovers players into the penalty area, but the young midfielder could only hit his shot straight at the on-rushing Steve Phillips.
Things opened up in the second half and the Pirates nearly took the lead when Richard Lambert headed over when he should have done better from a Sammy Igoe cross.
It seemed the Lions, in search of a third consecutive home win, had finally taken the lead when Alexander nodded Danny Senda's cross into the Rovers net on 73 minutes. However, the former Leyton Orient forward was denied his ninth goal of the campaign by an offside flag.
As the clock ticked down, the game became stretched and both teams had good chances to claim three points.
First, Paul Robinson miscued a pass back to Evans, which allowed Lambert to pounce on 80 minutes.
However, the Lions captain recovered well and was strong enough to hold off the Rovers forward and prevent a certain goal.
Then at the other end Joe Jacobson had to head a Senda free-kick over his own bar before Alexander couldn't quite get enough on a Jay Simpson cross to divert his effort past Rovers keeper Phillips.
With barely anytime left to play, the visitors broke down the left flank.
Substitute Haldane found enough space to curl in a cross which Disley headed in off the back post leaving Evans stranded and the Lions cruelly defeated.
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