John Smith's PNE fans' panel verdict: Hard-earned point in the Lions' Den

Prior to this game, we had only won once in the last six visits to Millwall since our return to the Championship.

That is a sequence of results which includes three losses in our four most recent games at the home of a side we have traditionally found hard to beat at this notoriously partisan venue.

It definitely felt like we had been thrown into the Lions’ Den and put our head firmly into the lion’s mouth when we conceded a simple goal after just five minutes, one which I personally thought we could have defended better.

Just like Daniel in the biblical story, we were saved when we also managed to close the jaws of the lion’s mouth and rescue a point when Brad Potts fired into the roof of the net after being played through by Mads Frokjaer.

The first half was a bit like watching a ‘half of two halves’ within the half.

After the home side took the lead, they were so much on top of the game that – fearing a drubbing – I was almost tempted into making my way back to the Bermondsey Beer Mile where, along with many of the travelling faithful who journeyed to the capital, I had enjoyed a pre-match tipple.

However, I was pleased that my demons did not get the better of me as, in the second part of the half, we managed to move the ball forwards more and controlled possession, looking more of an attacking threat before the well-deserved equaliser.

In the second half, we were camped out in our own half so much that it seemed like we had taken a leaf out of millionaire recluse Howard Hughes’ book.

We only managed to get the ball into our opponents’ penalty area for the first time in the half 20 minutes from time

Despite this, we could even have won the game in injury time when my man of the match, Potts, galloped into the penalty area like a fast-finishing racehorse in running onto the ball.

His well-struck shot was saved by the keeper and we had to settle for what I thought was a hard-earned point.

I also felt we looked much better going forward when captain Alan Browne came onto the field.

In my opinion, I feel that we must pull out all the stops to resolve that contractual issue as soon as possible and not allow him to leave on a free transfer at the end of the season.