Sam Allardyce settled for a point from a competitive London derby at Millwall today but knew his team had made enough chances to have taken all three.

The Hammers headed to The Den in great away form and could have had a tremendous start inside the first minute when Henri Lansbury caught home keeper David Forde napping. Lansbury shot towards an empty net from fully 40 yards only to see it just flash wide.

He also hit the bar and Julien Faubert went close in the first half before Kevin Nolan and David Bentley spurned golden opportunities in the second 45. Although it is six games unbeaten, a first win at Millwall since 1991 still eludes the Hammers.

“We are disappointed we didn’t win it but we respect the point we have got and a clean sheet based on the pressure Millwall put us under in the first half,” said Allardyce.

“I thought it was a fantastic piece of vision from Henri [in the first minute]. I was thinking ‘why the hell are you shooting from there?’He must have seen the keeper in the position he was and had the ball been on target it would have gone in the back of the net.

“It would have been nice to been talking about that goal but unfortunately it didn’t go in.”

Millwall recovered well from that early scare and gave as good as they got before half-time. Robert Green had to be alert for occasional forays forward but the Hammers looked more dangerous, even if they did have less of the ball than their hosts.

Even though we didn’t win we didn’t lose and against Millwall away I am happy with that! Can’t allow them any bragging rights now can we!