Defender Naomi Cole forced to go in goal but Dan's side battle to 2-2 draw
Millwall Lionesses manager Dan Mlinar was delighted with the protection stand-in goalkeeper Naomi Cole was given after his side fought back to draw 2-2 at Oxford United in FA WSL 2.Cole, who normally plays at centre-back, was put between the sticks following an injury to Sarah Quantrill, but barely had a save to make and even had a hand in Rinsola Babajide's equaliser.
Mlinar said: "It just shows how dominant we were in the second-half - she came out, she swept and she did really well.
"It wasn't from last-ditch defending or from good defensive play that we were able to protect her, but it was because we were on the front foot.
"We had possession of the ball, we were pushing them back and pressing them high, so we kept them as far away from our goal as possible and it worked a treat."
Oxford raced into a two-goal advantage but the Lionesses earned a draw thanks to strikes from Grace Fisk and Babajide.
"We were disappointed being 2-0 down having, we felt, played all right, but we just knew we had to keep going and once we got the first goal we felt we could get something and we did."
Millwall Lionesses (4-3-3): Quantrill (Cole, 45'), Lennon, Fisk, Butler, Cowan, Sherwood (Babajide, 58'), Carlton, Ali (Goss, 74'), McKeag, Hincks, Gibbons
Subs not used: Maple, Davis, Strugnell, Ivison
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