Millwall responded to back-to-back Championship defeats with a gutsy performance that earned a point against fellow promotion hopefuls Ipswich Town.

The Lions impressed in the first half, disrupting Ipswich's rhythm and having several decent chances - most notably when Caleb Taylor forced keeper Christian Walton into a fabulous save.

But Town, who were looking to increase the pressure on second-placed Middlesbrough with a fourth league win in five games, showed their quality as they dominated possession in the second half.

Jadon Philogene went close with a low front post strike after some neat footwork and Sindre Walle Egeli was twice off target with strikes from the right.

The hosts held on, however, and thought they had snatched the win inside the final 10 minutes only for Camiel Neghli's one-on-one strike to be ruled out for the most marginal of offside calls.

Milwall, who drop a place to seventh after the Boxing Day fixtures, will feel they could easily have taken all three points.

The Lions so nearly won it late on, and had had the better chances in a largely forgettable first half - the highlight of which was Walton's athletic sprawling save from a looping Taylor header.

Walton also did well to block a neat first-time flicked Mihailo Ivanovic effort at the near post and then made a regulation stop from a weak Ivanovic header as the home side's aerial strength and set-piece threat caused serious concerns.

Ipswich improved in the latter stages and began to control possession, with wingers Kasey McAteer and Philogene posing increasing problems.

Jens Cajuste came closest for the visitors in the first half, but blazed his effort over after a decent run.

Philogene also twice went close in the second half after cutting in from the left, while substitute Egeli smashed a low shot just wide of the near post and curled another shot wide.

Millwall manager Alex Neil:

"For the qualities we know Ipswich have got, and how stretched we are at the moment, I thought the lads did extremely well.

"I was really pleased with the effort they put into the game. I didn't think we deserved to lose the game by any stretch – if anything, if any team would have nicked it, it would have been us nicking it.

"Saying we held on [for the draw] does us a bit of a disservice, albeit we did concede the ball but I don't think we were getting peppered by any means.

"I thought keeping the clean sheet was important – obviously, the last couple of results haven't been great and we needed to make sure we didn't lose."

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna:

"I thought we found some great spaces against one of the best pressing teams in the league.

"We played through their press and controlled their press really, really well. We got into great situations carrying the ball through the middle of the pitch, working to wide areas.

"We created some chances and even with the shots we had, on another day one could go in and we can win the game 1-0 – I don't think that's too far away.

"But also we could have done a little bit better on the last pass sometimes and we could have had even more big chances."