Ben Whiteman struck the woodwork with a second-half penalty as PNE and Millwall shared the spoils in a goalless draw at The Den.
It was a tight encounter all night long in the capital, but North End had the best chance of the game just after the hour mark as Andrew Hughes was fouled in the area, but Whiteman hit the post from 12 yards.
Ryan Lowe opted to make three changes from the weekend’s draw against Bristol City, with Ali McCann, Ched Evans and Liam Lindsay coming in for PNE.
It was a quiet opening to the game, with neither goalkeeper called into action, but the hosts had two promising efforts on the half-hour mark.
First it was Maikel Kieftenbeld who tried his luck with a volley from 25 yards, seeing his effort headed over by a PNE defender, before Daniel Iversen comfortably caught Mason Bennett’s curling strike.
North End’s first shot on target of the game came shortly afterwards through Saturday’s two-time goalscorer Emil Riis, although his low effort was saved by Bartosz Bialkowski.
After going into the break goalless, Millwall had an early chance in the second period through Benik Afobe who was played through on goal, but he was met by Iversen rushing off his line and he saved at close range.
The Lilywhites then had a great chance to break the deadlock on 65 minutes, with Hughes being pulled down from Whiteman’s corner. PNE’s No.4 took the responsibility to step up and take the spot-kick, but he could only find the goalkeeper’s right-hand post and the ball bounced clear.
An otherwise close game appeared to open up momentarily from that point, with the likes of Millwall substitute Tyler Burey trying his luck late on, but ultimately neither side could find the decisive goal as the points were shared.
Millwall line-up: Bialkowski; Hutchinson, Cooper, M Wallace; McNamara, Kieftenbeld, Mitchell, Malone (Mahoney, 61); Burke (J Wallace, 61), Afobe, Bennett (Burey, 78). Subs not used: Long, Pearce, Saville, Evans.
PNE line-up: Iversen; van den Berg, Lindsay, Hughes (Earl, 67); Potts, Ledson (Browne, 79), McCann, Whiteman, Cunningham; Evans (Archer, 71), Riis. Subs not used: Ripley, Bauer, Sinclair, Diaby.
Attendance: 10,183 (516 PNE fans).
Referee: Mr K Friend.