Millwall's Playoff Heartbreak Continues: Hull Shocks Again

Millwall’s playoff curse tightens its grip. Again.

For the fourth time, the club stood one step from the Premier League and fell through the same trapdoor – the semi‑final. After 1991, 1994 and 2002, this one cuts deeper. Alex Neil’s side had finished 10 points clear of Hull, agonisingly close to automatic promotion on the final day. On a night when The Den expected a procession to Wembley, it watched someone else’s dream take shape instead.

Mohamed Belloumi, a substitute with a taste for chaos, ripped up the script with a stunning opener. Joe Gelhardt, another off the bench, twisted the knife. Millwall, heavy favourites at kick-off, were left staring at the same old story.

Hull rip up the odds

Hull arrived as the sixth-placed outsiders, the team supposedly just happy to be here. They leave as the first side from that position to reach the playoff final since Frank Lampard’s Derby in 2019, and they will not be going to Wembley to make up the numbers.

Sergej Jakirovic has operated on a modest budget since taking over last summer, yet his team has repeatedly punched above its weight. Here, he went bold. A switch to a back five, sprung on Millwall from the start, unsettled the hosts and set the tone.

It worked immediately. Charlie Hughes forced Anthony Patterson into the first save of the night with a free-kick after 10 minutes. Hull, who had already won 3-1 at The Den in December, looked sharper, calmer, more assured.

Millwall, urged on by Neil to make it a night to remember, needed a jolt. The first roar came before a ball had been kicked, the familiar growl of “No one likes us, we don’t care” thundering around the ground as the teams emerged. The second came when they finally woke up.

Thierno Ballo saw a header hacked off the line by Kyle Joseph. Femi Azeez, the winger who climbed from the eighth tier with Northwood to become one of Millwall’s main attacking threats, drove a fierce effort at Ivor Pandur’s near post and drew a sharp save. For a spell, Hull rocked and Millwall surged.

The visitors survived. Then started swinging back.

John Egan went close with a header from a free-kick. Oli McBurnie forced Patterson into a smart stop from a fizzing Ryan Giles cross. Five minutes before the interval, Millwall howled for a penalty when Casper De Norre’s cross struck Hughes on the arm, but with the defender’s arm tight to his side, referee Sam Barrott instantly waved away the appeals.

Soon after, misfortune hit Hull. Joseph, who had cleared off the line and worked tirelessly up front, limped off with what looked a nasty ankle injury. Sympathy from the stands was in short supply; the Millwall fans booed as he was helped away by the physio. On came Belloumi. The substitution would change everything.

Millwall run out of ideas

The backdrop to the second leg had already been spiky. The first game had ended with Ryan Leonard’s disallowed goal – which Neil insisted should have stood – and supporters from both clubs needing to be separated by police after the whistle. Hull’s chair, Acun Ilicali, had tried to soften the edges by handing free T-shirts to the travelling fans who made the long journey to southeast London. They would have something far better than cotton to remember this by.

Again, Hull came out of the blocks quicker after the break. Regan Slater slipped McBurnie through and his effort beat Patterson, only for Tristan Crama to somehow hook the ball off the line. A warning, and a loud one.

Millwall huffed. They pressed. They chased. But they rarely carved Hull open. The tension grew, the noise dipped, then rose again in frustration. Neil rolled the dice. Mihailo Ivanovic came on and the shape flipped to 4-4-2. Soon after, experience arrived in the form of Alfie Doughty and Barry Bannon.

The pressure still lacked a cutting edge. Hull waited for their moment.

It came through Belloumi.

The Algerian had been a constant menace down the left, jinking and driving, asking questions. When the ball broke to him on the edge of the area, he didn’t hesitate. He shaped it, curled it, and watched as it kissed the far post on its way in, leaving Patterson motionless. The away end exploded, yellow shirts flying everywhere, the underdogs suddenly in control.

Millwall tried to respond. Ivanovic headed over. Bannon almost undid his own side with a loose pass that handed Slater a chance to make it two, only for the opportunity to go begging. The clock ticked, the belief drained.

Then Gelhardt arrived to finish it.

Barely on the pitch, he darted into position to meet Belloumi’s cross with his first touch. The contact wasn’t clean, but it didn’t need to be. Patterson misjudged it, the ball slipped through his fingers and dribbled over the line. A cruel, almost slow-motion confirmation of Millwall’s fate.

Hull’s players sprinted towards their fans, who had travelled in hope and were now celebrating a place at Wembley. Millwall stood still. Another semi-final, another collapse at the brink.

There will likely be a reunion with West Ham next season, a rivalry not seen since 2012 and a small consolation for a fanbase that craves more than grudge matches. Hull, meanwhile, head for the final with history on their side and momentum at their back.

They have already upset the odds. Who would bet against them doing it once more?