Millwall had to come back from behind twice as they drew with relegation-threatened Wigan Athletic at The Den.

In an absorbing game in south-east London, Anthony Pilkington drew first blood after just three minutes before Shaun Hutchinson got the Lions back level.

Wigan took back the lead shortly into the second half through Antonee Robinson, only for Matt Smith to play the role of super-sub and rescue a point minutes later.

The draw sees Millwall slip to 11th in the table, behind former boss Neil Harris’ Cardiff City on goal difference, but extend their unbeaten run at home in the Championship to five games.

Gary Rowett made a couple of changes to the side which won 1-0 at Swansea City, bringing in Jayson Molumby and Tom Bradshaw for Alex Pearce and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson.

Wigan took a surprise lead at The Den inside three minutes when Pilkington fired home following a Kieffer Moore knockdown.

The Republic of Ireland international, whose goal was his second of the season, could have grabbed another soon after but failed to hit the target.

Although Millwall are still yet to win a league game after falling behind this season, they restored parity after 23 minutes when vice-captain Hutchinson powerfully headed in Jed Wallace’s corner.

Wigan still looked the more dangerous of the two teams, and their best chance of retaking the lead arrived when Bartosz Bialkowski kept out Moore’s close-range header as half-time approached.

The hosts, whose second of three registered shot attempts that half arrived four minutes before the break, saw Jed Wallace go close following an individual solo run.

Following the restart, the second half saw two goals in four minutes as both sides exposed each other’s defensive shortcomings.

Robinson managed to squeeze an effort past Bialkowski for Wigan’s second, on 55 minutes, after being teed up in the box by Joe Garner.

Then Smith, who was a half-time substitute for Connor Mahoney, made another impact from the bench when he rose highest to bullet in Shaun Williams’ cross on the hour mark.

In what was an open and sometimes end-to-end second half, Millwall looked much-improved going forward but were still forced to contend with similar problems.

The late stages saw one of the game’s most dramatic moments when Hutchinson crucially intervened after Jamal Lowe’s deflected cross crashed off the upright.

Despite their efforts, Millwall could not find a way past Wigan again who held on through four minutes of added time.

Millwall team: Bialkowski; Romeo, Hutchinson, Cooper, M. Wallace; J. Wallace, Molumby, Williams, Mahoney (Smith 45); B. Thompson (Skalak 79); Bradshaw.

Subs not used: Steele (GK), Pearce, Brown, O’Brien and Bodvarsson.