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It was the city of Hull where Millwall’s top-flight dreams last came true all the way back in 1988. Kevin O’Callaghan’s penalty at the old Boothferry Park just a mile across town was enough to ensure a 1-0 victory and promotion to the First Division. So with Hull the opponents again and the stakes at their highest, this felt like somewhat of an omen.
But in the end, the events in East Yorkshire this time around nearly 40 years on from one of their greatest triumphs will ultimately be consigned to a footnote in this tie. All the drama and the headlines will instead unfold in south London on Monday evening after a first leg which was littered with tension, but shy of genuine moments that could decide the promotion fortunes of both these teams.
Not that Millwall will mind that at all, though. They head back down the M1 with a valuable draw and their Premier League dreams still very much alive after navigating a tricky and boisterous evening in Hull. Chances were few and far between on the opening night of the EFL play-offs, but a goal-less draw probably felt just about right as tension and low-risk football took control.
It felt like an evening where almost all the playoff cliches you can muster up felt appropriate. Take it to the second leg with the tie still alive, and so on and so forth. Even Hull will be content, given how they have won at Millwall once this season and would themselves have wanted to not be behind at half-time in the tie.
It’s often commonplace to ask at the midway point who will be more satisfied with the scoreline. Ordinarily you’d assume the away team had they not been beaten but Alex Neil cut a frustrated figure post-match. “I thought we were the better side,” he said. “I’m probably not satisfied if I’m being honest, we wanted to take a lead back on the basis of us being better in general.
“But if you’d said to me we’d have one game at home to get to a playoff final and it was all square, I’d have taken it.” Neil was just as annoyed about the game’s one big moment, when Ryan Leonard bundled the ball into the Hull goal with just three minutes remaining, a moment which looked as though it had made Millwall odds-on for Wembley later this month.
However, Tristan Crama was adjudged to have pulled Charlie Hughes down as the cross came in. “I thought it was really soft; both lads were at it,” Neil said. That was one of two noteworthy moments in the game, with the other coming almost two hours earlier at the other end courtesy of Hull City.
They were not at their swashbuckling best in the first leg, a gear they may have to find if things get tough at The Den on Monday evening. But they almost took an early lead when Mohamed Belloumi’s wonderful run saw him strike Anthony Patterson’s post. It looked to set the tone for a thrilling game after just two minutes, but things quickly got tense.
And unsurprisingly, City’s manager was content with the tie being level. “I expected a game like this,” Sergej Jakirovic reflected. “It was big battle all over the pitch. I think we had the best chance through Mo, I thought it was going to be a goal. In the end, a draw… I think it’s a fair result but it’s half-time.”
Only in the final 20 minutes when both managers made changes did things really liven up, and it will have given both food for thought. Yu Hirakawa had a positive impact for Hull, almost providing the perfect pass for Oli McBurnie to turn home.
McBurnie, incidentally, had a quiet evening: they don’t happen too often these days, so expect him to be in menacing mood on Monday.
At the other end, the introduction of Barry Bannan gave Millwall a noticeable lift and he may well come into Neil’s thoughts for a start on Monday as the stakes ramp up even higher. Thirty-eight years ago they were led to the top flight by their veteran midfield captain, Les Briley. Bannan, at 36, may yet have a similarly talismanic role left to play in this story.
But after what we saw here on a cagey evening in East Yorkshire, don’t be too surprised if it needs more than another 90 minutes to separate them. This one could go all the way on Monday.
