Report by John Patrick Heeley

Wigan went into the Lion's Den on Saturday for a game they never envisaged playing a matter of weeks ago and a game few thought they'd come away with a result from.

With automatic promotion out of the window Latics had the unenviable task of travelling south to London and Millwall's New Den, where the home team had only twice failed to score previously this season.

The game was dominated by the defences from start to finish as both sides showed reluctance to give anything away and the second half at the JJB on Wednesday is promising to be an absolute thriller.

Wigan manager John Benson made five changes from his starting line-up from the previous week's trip to Bournemouth.

Stuart Balmer returned after witnessing the birth of his child, Gareth Griffiths relegated to the bench and Ian Kilford returned to the opening exhanges following his hernia operation.

Jeff Peron was missing through injury with Alan McLoughlin and Kevin Nicholls joining Griffiths on the bench. The "Get Lee On" campaign seemed to have been noticed with Diddy David also making an appearance on the team sheet, his first time since October.

The game started at a furious pace and Player of the Year Andy Liddell was lucky to be still on the pitch after only five minutes. A late challenge on former Wycombe star Matty Lawrence saw Liddell's name go into referee Terry Heilbron's book and he was fortunate to see only yellow.

Liddell was in the thick of it again twelve minutes later when he nipped in from the left flank and fired his shot narrowly wide of the mark.

Five minutes later Liddell's cross into the box was nearly turned into his own net by Millwall defender David Tuttle but former Liverpool reserve keeper Tony Warner was fortunate to block the 'shot' with his legs from close range.

Millwall had their chances too and Lion's striker Neil Harris will be kicking himself for not making more of his effort after beating de Zeeuw on the turn but only managed to stab at the ball allowing Stillie to get down and save quite easily.

The best chance of the game came Millwall's way just after the half hour mark. Paul Moody rose well in the area and met Lucas Neill's corner with a powerful header, beating Stillie, only to find Darren Sheridan by the far post who cleared off the line much to the relief of the travelling Wigan fans.

Stillie was called upon three minutes from the interval getting down well to hold a Lucas Neill shot and Paul Moody was unfortunate for Millwall in first half stoppage time when his header went narrowly over the bar after he had beat Stillie to a cross.

Half Time: Millwall 0 Wigan 0

To be fair Millwall had the "Lions'" share of play in the opening period but that all changed after the break. Wigan came out from the start determined to get something from the game, but just as in the first half the defensive lines would not be breached.

Arjan de Zeeuw who was having an exceptional game in Latics' back three got his head on the end of a Darren Sheridan free kick but his effort was collected by Warner between the posts and Neil Redfearn was unfortunate not to get on the end of a cross from Andy Liddell.

Wigan's best chance of the half fell to Simon Haworth, returning to the starting line-up after being dropped to the bench the previous Saturday.

With twenty minutes remaining Liddell slung a cross into the area and found Haworth hurtling onto the end of it but his header skimmed wide of the post.

Millwall nearly snatched the advantage with only a minute remaining of normal time. Tim Cahill thundered a first time effort goalbound but was denied by an outstretched boot from Balmer who put the ball behind for a corner.

A draw it was to be and on reflection probably a fair result. The second leg on Wednesday night should produce a classic match and a decent crowd with the Millwall chairman laying on 20 coaches free of charge for 1,000 lucky fans.

Wigan should take heart from their performance at the New Den and play with a bit more confidence than they have in recent weeks.

Strange moments from the game, however. Where the hell did fourth official Kevin Lynch get a total of eight minutes stoppage time from?

One rumour is that Terry Heilbron had asked him to put four minutes on the board to fool the fans so that when he got near to the tunnel he would blow for time and leg it to his changing room!

Full Time: Millwall 0 Wigan 0