Town and Millwall remain deadlocked at 0-0 at half-time, although the Blues have had all the game’s chances with David McGoldrick and Luke Chambers both having gone close.
Left-back Aaron Cresswell’s return at left-back in place of Tyrone Mings is the only change from the side which faced Reading in last week’s Championship opener at the Madejski Stadium.
Jay Tabb was fine to start despite suffering a shoulder injury in Tuesday’s Capital One Cup defeat at Stevenage.
Millwall included ex-Town loan keeper Stephen Bywater from the beginning, while Andy Marshall was on the bench. There was no place in the 18 for Lee Martin, and Liam Trotter missed out having undergone knee surgery earlier in the summer.
Town dominated the early stages and should have gone in front in the fifth minute when David McGoldrick escaped behind the Lions’ backline from Cole Skuse’s pass but took the ball too wide as he tried to take it past Bywater, who stuck out a hand and claimed. The Blues frontman will feel he probably should have scored.
Millwall had more of the game as it moved towards the quarter of an hour mark but without threatening Scott Loach’s goal.
On 17 the Blues went close again, Cresswell sending in a freekick from deep on the right and McGoldrick headed down and just wide at the far post.
The Blues continued to have most of the ball but without really threatening until the 28th minute when Luke Chambers headed a Carlos Edwards corner from the left over from inside the six-yard box when he seemed certain to score.
McGoldrick again went close in the 34th minute when he twisted and turned his way past two Millwall defenders on the Town right before hitting a shot which deflected past the post and beyond Daryl Murphy.
A minute later, James Henry, the subject of a rebuffed Town offer in the summer of 2012, shot wide of Loach’s right post with the Lions still to test the Blues keeper.
Edwards required treatment for what looked like a two-footed Shane Lowry tackle in the 38th minute, although referee Graham Salisbury disagreed, then a minute later Shaun Derry got his name in Salisbury’s book for a foul on Tabb, having previously been spoken to by the official after a clash with Skuse.
The Lions were lucky not to be reduced to 10 men in the 45th minute when Chambers was clearly caught in the face by a flailing Steve Morison arm as the pair prepared to challenge for a ball from deep. Referee Salisbury was evidently in a very lenient mood and showed only a yellow card.
Just before half-time, Edwards fed Hewitt on the right but his cross was cut out just ahead of Murphy.
Town had had more than enough chances to be ahead at the break with McGoldrick and Chambers both likely to have been thinking that they should have been on the scoresheet as they made their way down the tunnel.
Town: Loach, Hewitt, Chambers, Smith, Cresswell, Edwards, Skuse, Hyam, Tabb, Murphy, McGoldrick. Subs: Gerken, Veseli, Berra, Tunnicliffe, Taylor, Anderson, Nouble.
Millwall: Bywater, Smith, Lowry, Shittu, Beevers, Derry, Bailey, Chaplow, Henry, Keogh, Morison. Subs: Marshall, Dunne, Robinson, Feeney, Easter, Abdou, McDonald. Referee: Graham Salisbury (Lancashire). Att: