Millwall have conceded 14 more goals than they had at this stage last year, and Neil Harris must be growing tired of discussing their defensive frailties.

The Lions find themselves one point above the relegation zone thanks to a draw at the weekend despite leading late on.

Markus Henriksen headed home after 73 minutes to snatch a late point for Nigel Adkins' men, this after the away side took the lead after six minutes.

Two errors led to the Tigers’ getting on the scoresheet with James Meredith and Aiden O’Brien both switching off for Kamil Grosicki to burst through in to the box and smash home.

Henriksen headed home from close range to rescue a point having been left unmarked at the back post.

The Lions switched off, and it left Harris to throw down the gauntlet in no uncertain terms to his defenders ahead of a busy Christmas period.

“I thought we dominated from start to finish,” said Harris. “Shot count, set-pieces, crosses, aerial duels, foot races, tackles, shots on goal – we dominated everything.

“But the scoreline says 2-2, and that’s the bottom line. We can’t keep scoring goals at one end and conceding at the other; we have to get back to noughts and ones.

“We conceded one last week, and it was an excellent result at Bristol City. We have to get back to that because to come from behind at the Den is not always easy.

“We got ourselves in front and are absolutely dominating the game and then gave them two free headers in our penalty area, individually that’s not acceptable.

“Mentally they’ve got to be better. When you’re defending, you say ‘my man doesn’t touch the ball, my man doesn’t score’. That’s all it is. I learned that at a very young age.

“The first goal was poor, a player switches off, and he’s put his hand up for it. But the second one was just too easy.”

The verdict

Every week Neil Harris comes out to speak post-match, and every week he has to answer questions on the fragility and naivety of his side’s defending.

Last term there was no issue of this as they were as resolute as they could have possibly been after promotion from League One.

This year is a different story, and they need to find a way to plug their leaky defence if they are to survive.

Millwall constantly concede first and then it is an uphill task to get back into the game, and despite doing that and getting into the lead at the weekend, they threw it away with soft defending to drop two points.

I am sure Harris is sick to the back teeth at talking about their defensive issues.

With a busy Christmas period almost upon us, the Lions defenders will need to stand up and be counted if they are to somehow get away from the lower reaches of the Championship to avoid a return to League One.