Abube Onuchukwu netted a 96th-minute equaliser as Town’s U21s came from 3-1 down as the game went into injury time to claim a dramatic 3-3 draw. The Lions were 1-0 in front at half-time and added to their lead just after the restart before sub Afi Adebayo pulled one back for the Blues. The visitors restored their two-goal advantage but skipper Tommy Taylor scored on 91 and then Onuchukwu grabbed a battling point six minutes into injury time.
Town included trialist centre-half Max Kuczynski, an 18-year-old currently with Arsenal’s academy, who also operates at left-back and has been with the Gunners since he was 12. Born in London, he is eligible to represent Poland, England and Jamaica at international level.
The Blues had the ball in the net in the fourth minute through right-sided four Tudor Mendel but with the referee having already stopped play for a foul on Matt Roberts and Lions keeper George Evans. Roberts took the free-kick, which deflected wide off the wall.
Town saw most of the ball early on but neither side had been able to carve out a chance until the 14th minute when Charlie Compton struck a low effort from distance on the right which gave Evans little trouble.
Despite having shown little in the final third up to then, Millwall took the lead in the 18th minute.
Sheldon Kendall cut in from the right and smashed a strike from just outside the area across Charlie Binns in the Town goal and inside the far post.
Two minutes later, Town should have levelled. Tudor Mendel was played in on goal on the right of the box and appeared to have taken the ball past Evans but the keeper managed to get a hand to it and it cannoned off the former Anderlecht winger’s shins and bounced wide.
On 24, Mendel made a strong run towards the edge of the area to the left before hitting a shot across Evans and just beyond the far post, the ball clipping a Millwall player on its way.
Soon after, Edwin Agbaje, playing right centre-half as he continues his comeback from injury, slid in to make an important challenge as Millwall number nine Jaiden Celestine-Charles broke towards the area.
Just after the half hour, the Lions broke quickly after Town had been unable to find a way through at the other end and Kendall wasn’t far away from finding the right corner of Binns’s right post for a second time.
A minute later, Ollie Evans headed just past Binns’s left post having been found unmarked at a corner.
Millwall threatened again in the 37th minute, Binns palming a low cross from the right against Agbaje and momentarily it looked on its way over the line until it was cleared. Soon after, Kendall shot well over from distance.
With four minutes of the half remaining, Mendel was sent away on the right and might have driven into the area, but instead cut inside and played to number nine Jamie Mauge on the left of the box but the striker, who is currently on loan at Bury Town, was unable to find the space to shoot.
That was the Blues’ last opportunity of a half in which they had started positively but without seriously threatening before going behind to Millwall’s first chance, albeit an excellent strike.
Mendel was unable to take a very good opportunity to level for Town but after that the Blues laboured, while the visitors had a number of opportunities to increase their lead.
Town withdrew trialist Kuczynski, bringing on Fraser Heard ahead of the second half, while the visitors made an enforced change, Jet Dyer having picked up a knock just before the break. George Beaumont took over.
Nine minutes after the restart, with neither side having managed a chance, the Blues swapped Mendel for Adebayo.
A minute later, Millwall doubled their lead. Blues midfielder Steven Turner slipped in possession just outside the area to the right and Celestine-Charles took it on and shot past Binns to the keeper’s left.
On 59, Somto Boniface, who joined Town from Chelsea’s youth set-up in January, burst down the left into the area but his shot was blocked. The resultant corner led to another flag-kick on the right which reached Agbaje at the back post but the defender was unable to get enough on the ball.
Town, who had been very much second best since the break, swapped right-back Leon Elliott for Onuchukwu in the 64th minute.
And a minute later, the Blues pulled a goal back. Mauge might have been played in on goal but the pass was behind him but the striker swept it wide to sub Adebayo on the right of the box from where he shot across Evans and into the corner of the net.
In the 68th minute, Celestine-Charles was found on the right of the area but Binns was able to smother the frontman’s effort from a tight angle and the loose ball was cleared.
Three minutes later, Oliver Evans stabbed wide at Binns’s left post after a free-kick was floated into the area
And in the 74th minute, the visitors sealed the three points. Kendall was allowed to cut onto his left foot from the right again, this time Binns saved but Celestine-Charles followed up to slam into the roof of the net off the keeper.
The goalscorer subsequently made way, Kavalli Heywood taking over, then on 78 Luke Towler took over from Turner while Boniface underwent treatment for a knock but was OK to continue.
The sub created an opening for Mauge on 81 but the forward’s shot was blocked behind. Ahead of the flag-kick, which Heard nodded into keeper Evans’s arms, Kendall was switched for Elias Mansour.
Half-time sub Beaumont shot wide from distance for the Lions, who were seeing the game out confidently against a Town team which had struggled to cause them too many defensive problems all game.
In the first of six minutes of time added on, Town skipper Taylor pulled a goal back, the forward, who was recently included as a sub in the FA Cup at Nottingham Forest, deftly slipping under keeper Evans having made a great run onto Matty Roberts’s excellent pass.
As the Blues pushed for an equaliser, Millwall broke twice and Binns saved first from Frankie Baker and then from Alfie Massey.
And in the sixth and final minute of injury time, Town levelled. Mauge’s low shot from a tight angle was saved by Evans but from the corner the ball was played short to Boniface, who crossed to the far post and sub Onuchukwu shot through a crowd of players and into the net.
There was only time to take the kick-off before the referee ended a game which had looked like a comfortable Millwall victory until the dying seconds.
Town had been second best for much of the game having gone behind but despite not being at their best, kept going with Roberts’s excellent pass setting up Taylor, who finished clinically.
The Blues maintained the pressure in the closing moments and with Binns having made a couple of important stops from Millwall counter-attacks eventually forced the chance which Onuchukwu, a summer signing from Aston Villa, turned home to claim a point which had seemed hugely unlikely only a few minutes earlier.
Town: Binns, Elliott (Onuchukwu 64), Boniface, Agbaje, Kuczynski (Heard 46), Turner (Towler 78), Mendel (Adebayo 54), Compton, Mauge, T Taylor (c), Roberts. Unused: Fletcher.
Millwall: G Evans, Smith (c), O Evans, Massey, H Taylor, Dyer (Beaumont 46), Howland, Lamptey (Whitby 85), Celestine-Charles (Heywood 75), Baker, Kendall (Mansour 81). Unused: Addai.