City boss Paul Lambert argued that his side's 1-1 draw at Millwall could represent 'a huge point' at the end of the season – despite them missing out on two more points in the dying seconds.

He also claimed that the Lions' injury-time equaliser by John Marquis should have been disallowed for offside.

'I think he was offside when he put it in.

'He was on the line and John Ruddy was nowhere near it,' said Lambert.

'I thought we scored a terrific goal with Foxy (David Fox) and I never felt threatened.

'We should have won it. We never saw it through but it might be a huge point come the end of the season.

'I am proud of the lads and the way they performed. 'I have seven lads out injured or suspended, but I am proud of the group that played.'

With Andrew Crofts serving a one-match ban and Simon Lappin playing at left-back in the absence of Adam Drury and Steven Smith, Lambert praised his reshuffled line-up – including a rare outing for Matthew Gill as a substitute.

'Simon Lappin is not a left back and did great,' said Lambert.

'We have Macca (Anthony McNamee) playing in midfield who has never really played in a diamond before and some young lads on the bench.

'Gilly's not played a lot for me so I'm happy with him getting some game time.'

The City boss will soon be able to call on reinforcements, revealing that midielder Andrew Surman – out since August with a knee injury – 'will come back shortly' and that Drury is on the road to recovery from a calf injury.

• Millwall manager Kenny Jackett praised striker John Marquis, whose goal on his full debut denied the Canaries victory last night. Jackett said the youngster was partly to blame for the goal by David Fox that gave City the lead with 15 minutes left, but saluted his determination to make amends.

'John grew into the game as it went on and that's promising for a young player – he's got a lot of character,' said Jackett. 'It was his man that broke off him for their goal but it was a good strike, to be fair to their lad.

'I'm pleased that John got the goal at the end and I do think he's got a future. For a kid of 18 he showed a lot of promise. It felt like a big point gained, scoring so late. Credit to the players for keeping going and it looked we needed a bit of a break.'

Jackett, without three strikers – the injured Neil Harris and Kevin Lisbie and the suspended Steve Morison – admitted there was a lack of a killer touch in his side. 'But we passed it well, looked solid and we defended well when we had to – we just couldn't find the shots, the final ball or the cross,' he said.