Parkinson explained: "It was quite strange. The ref got injured in the warm-up, so a Millwall supporter was the fourth official.

"We were having a laugh with him because when their keeper made a great save, he couldn't help himself jumping up and applauding.

"So we said  'hold on a minute, you've got to be impartial' and the next minute  he ends up running the line.

"So you can imagine it from our point of view, because this is a tough place for officials anyway – but he kept his integrity and did a good job."

Bolton came close to claiming their first win since September courtesy of Mark Beevers' header but Jake Cooper got the final touch on Jiri Skalak's strike eight minutes from time to ensure the spoils were shared.

There were plenty of plus points for Parkinson to take as his team moved above Hull to 22nd in the table – but the feeling of what might have been remained inescapable.

He added: "[It's] mixed feelings. We've not had the greatest points return in recent weeks but I thought the lads played very, very well.

"Before we scored, we should have had a penalty – you've got to see it to believe it how we didn't get the penalty given.

"Will Buckley's clean through on goal and the lad (Shaun Hutchinson) has run across him.

"All in all, it's a good day's work for us. We'd have loved to have taken all three points but in terms of the way we played I've got to be very pleased."

Parkinson was referring to the first-half incident that saw Buckley go to ground under the challenge of Hutchinson six minutes in – but no spot-kick was given.

Shortly afterwards, Beevers headed in from Joe Williams' cross to end his team's six-hour goal drought – but Cooper got the last touch on Skalak's drive to save the day for the Lions.

Millwall manager Neil Harris said: "We didn't look Millwall-like at The Den, up and at them, 100 per cent – we were five per cent off.

"I said at half-time [that] it's about finding a different way, being brave with the ball, being brave without the ball, and using the ball a lot more on the floor.

"I thought we had some excellent passages of play second half, scored relatively late in the game, and got into some really good areas. For me, summing it up, it's definitely a point gained."

Harris singled out his goalkeeper for praise, adding: "I thought Jordan Archer was excellent. He's had a difficult period not being in the team.

"He's not been used to that over the last three years with me but he's trained excellently for a period of time, waited patiently, came back in by default, and I thought he was excellent."

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