Three Millwall vs West Ham flashpoints that could have caused carnage

West Ham United's clash with Millwall was as chaotic on the field as every watching neutral would have hoped.

The Den was packed out for Saturday afternoon's contest, while millions watched on across the world.

It was the first instalment of this famous fixture - dubbed The Dockers Derby - in 14 years.

And it more than lived up to the hype as Mohamadou Kante and Konstantinos Mavropanos struck to cancel out goals from Caleb Taylor and Camiel Neghli in the first half.

An allegation was made by Millwall goalkeeper Filip Marschall that Taty Castellanos spat on him in the second half, though that it must be stressed it is exactly that - an allegation.

Matters did not boil over in the way some had perhaps secretly hoped, but there were certainly enough flashpoints to make that happen.

Morato and Caleb Taylor set the tone early on

It did not take too long at all for the first flashpoint at The Den.

As the players waited for a long throw to come into the box - a theme of the first half - Morato and Taylor started pulling each other's shirts.

They came face-to-face, but referee Paul Tierney was quickly in there and called across captains Jarrod Bowen and Jake Cooper.

It was smart refereeing as the man in the middle let certain things go that perhaps would have been penalised in standard fixtures.

However, Tierney was perhaps a little too lenient at times...

Jenson Metcalfe a lucky boy

Jenson Metcalfe was not afraid to get stuck in. But quite how he avoided being booked by Tierney is anyone's guess.

He flew in on Morato with half an hour of the contest played, yet the referee did not think to dish out a booking.

A second challenge then went unpunished, though Morato was not so lucky as he saw a harsh caution for a foul on Jordy Osei-Tutu.

That could easily have been the moment West Ham's players, already annoyed at the scoreline, let matters boil over.

Paul Tierney reaches comical levels over Metcalfe leniency

Tierney clearly did not want to be too card happy, but there is a happy balance to be found.

Metcalfe knew he could get away with pretty much anything, and so that told around an hour in when he this time lunged in on Mavropanos.

As Andy Hinchcliffe said on Sky Sports, it was a "nasty challenge" worthy of a booking, even in a feisty derby such as this.

You can credit the West Ham players for not getting in the referee's face, but at the same time a bit of that would also have been welcomed.

Any of these incidents could have seen things boil over, but that was not the case.