Belloumi and Gelhardt Strike as Hull Sink Millwall to Reach Play-Off Final
Hull City are heading to Wembley. In one of the most compelling Championship playoff semi-finals in recent memory, the Tigers silenced a raucous Den with a clinical 2-0 second-leg victory over Millwall to advance 2-0 on aggregate and in doing so, moved to within one game of returning to the Premier League for the first time since 2017.
After a goalless draw in the first leg at the MKM Stadium on Friday, the tie had everything to play for at The Den on Monday night, with Millwall enjoying home advantage in what was billed as the biggest game the south London ground has ever hosted. The atmosphere was electric. The occasion was enormous. And Hull, with the cool nerve of a side that has defied every expectation this season, delivered exactly when it mattered most.
Millwall, who had the best defensive home record in the entire Championship during the regular season, were unbeaten in their last six games heading into the second leg and were favoured by Opta’s supercomputer to advance in 66 per cent of pre-match simulations.
The Lions had the crowd behind them, the statistics on their side and history urging them forward this would have been the first Championship playoff final in Millwall’s history, and their first playoff final of any kind since winning the League One final back in 2017. They had everything to play for. Hull, it turned out, simply wanted it more.
The first half was tense, nervy and tight exactly as you would expect from two sides acutely aware of the stakes. Hull started with great intensity, winning an early corner that created danger inside the Millwall area, while the hosts tried to settle into their rhythms and impose the aggressive, transition-limiting style that had made them so difficult to beat at The Den all season. Chances were limited and hard-earned on both sides, with neither goalkeeper tested seriously enough to tip the tie in either direction. Hull’s goalkeeper Ivor Pandur and his opposite number Karl Darlow both came through the opening 45 minutes untroubled but alert, the chess match grinding towards its inevitable second-half eruption.
Millwall pushed harder after the interval, using set-pieces and deliveries into the area to probe for the breakthrough that would shift momentum decisively in their favour. But Hull held their defensive shape with impressive discipline, absorbing the pressure and waiting, patiently, for their moment to strike.
It arrived in the 64th minute and it was worth every second of the wait. Belloumi was found by Matt Crooks, and he cut inside the box with purpose before curling a brilliant opener into the corner, the kind of finish that makes 17,768 fans at The Den go suddenly, devastatingly quiet. It was a goal of the highest order in the highest-pressure environment, and it fundamentally changed everything.
Millwall were visibly shaken. They pushed forward with desperation, trying to find the goal that would drag them back into the tie, and came close through a Femi Azeez header that forced a fine save from Pandur. But Hull, showing a maturity that belies the turbulence of their season, simply refused to crack.
Fifteen minutes after the opener, the tie was sealed in ruthless fashion — a clinical counter-attack with Belloumi again at the heart of it, racing forward before sliding a perfectly-weighted ball across the box for Gelhardt, who had just been introduced from the bench. The substitute showed incredible composure to convert from inside the area, and Hull City were going to Wembley. The celebrations from the away end told you everything — this was a moment none of their supporters will forget in a hurry.
The achievement is staggering when set against the backdrop of where Hull City have come from. They only survived relegation on the final day of last season, and have been operating under a transfer embargo this term under head coach Sergej Jakirovic. They had even begun the final day of the regular season outside the playoff places, needing results to go their way just to be included in this conversation. Now they are one game from the Premier League.
Hull have become the first sixth-placed side in seven years to reach the Championship playoff final only the fifth time in the Championship era since 2004/05 that it has happened. The Tigers have done it before, winning at Wembley in 2008 and again in 2016, and they know better than most what it takes to make that occasion count.
They will face either Middlesbrough or Southampton in the final on Saturday 23 May a date that promises to be one of the great occasions in the football calendar. For Millwall, the wait for a first Premier League season goes on. For Hull City, the dream that seemed impossible just weeks ago is now achingly, beautifully real.
