When the referee’s final whistle sounded at The Den on Monday, Millwall’s campaign came to a sudden halt. Second-half strikes from Mo Belloumi and Joe Gelhardt gave Hull City a 2-0 aggregate victory, sending the Tigers to the Championship play-off final at Wembley and leaving the Lions to spend at least one more season in the second tier.
Throughout this season, manager Alex Neil often relied on substitutions to turn losses into draws and draws into wins. But in this decisive match, where both Hull goals came from players introduced off the bench, nothing clicked for Millwall in their pursuit of Premier League promotion for the first time in its modern format.
Within a minute of coming on in the second half, Alfie Doughty failed to close down Belloumi on Millwall’s left flank, allowing the Algerian to cut inside and slot home a stunning opening goal. Suddenly, Millwall trailed 1-0 on aggregate after 64 minutes of the second leg, having already made three substitutions earlier—Barry Bannan and Doughty entered together, while Mihailo Ivanovic partnered Josh Coburn up front six minutes prior.
Neil told BBC Radio London after the match: “It’s been a great season, but right now all you feel is disappointment and frustration. You naturally feel you’ve let people down—the supporters, the hierarchy. That’s part of being a manager.”
The defeat stings, but Millwall’s campaign was undeniably remarkable. They finished third in the table with 83 points—more than the 82 amassed by the 1987-88 Second Division champions, albeit across a 44-game season. No team matched their 18 clean sheets in the Championship (19 counting the goalless semi-final first leg), and they were in the automatic promotion race until the final day. Had Ipswich Town slipped up against Queens Park Rangers, Millwall would have been promoted alongside Coventry City.
Fans will inevitably dwell on ‘what if’ moments: Ryan Leonard’s disallowed goal at MKM Stadium, the draw against already-relegated Leicester City in the penultimate game, or Zak Sturge’s red card when Millwall led Blackburn 1-0 in March before losing 2-1—a decision later overturned but too late.
Neil, however, focused on the bigger picture. “Did I roll the dice too early? Did I go for it? There are loads of thoughts running through your mind. When Sky asked me, ‘Do you think three weeks ago if you won that game…’ I thought, ‘How far do you want to go back?’ Every team can do that. This has been one of my favourite seasons as a coach because the group gave me so much, the fans got right behind us, the owners gave me complete support. I’m just sorry we didn’t do enough.”
With Hull now preparing for the final against Middlesbrough or Southampton on May 23, Millwall must regroup for next season’s push—whether through automatic promotion or another playoff run. Former Millwall striker Steve Morison summed it up: “Every year, it’s year-on-year progression. The teams coming down will be huge in the Championship, so they need to savour this moment. They’ve shown consistent improvement. You’d be gutted but proud of the football club.”
