3 weeks ago
Key events Show cardinal events only Please move connected JavaScript to usage this feature
The teams!
Team sheets person been handed in, and these were nan names upon them:
Hull: Pandur, Coyle, Egan, Hughes, Giles, Slater, Crooks, Belloumi, Millar, Gelhardt, McBurnie. Subs: Phillips, Hirakawa, Dowell, Lundstram, Joseph, Koumas, Ajayi, Gyabi, McNair.
Millwall: Patterson, Leonard, Crama, Cooper, Sturge, Mazou-Sacko, De Norre, Azeez, Neghli, Ballo, Coburn. Subs: Crocombe, McNamara, Mitchell, Ivanovic, Doughty, Langstaff, Watson, Cundle, Bannan.
Referee: Gavin Ward.
Hello world!
Well, aft 46 games nan Championship is over. Now for nan important bit.
At nan extremity of nan regular play Millwall and Hull were separated by precisely 10 points, pinch nan Londoners ending up conscionable a mates distant from skipping nan playoffs wholly by coming second, and Hull besides 2 distant from skipping nan playoffs by finishing seventh. That contempt Millwall scoring conscionable 64 goals, nan fewest successful nan apical 8 – and, indeed, not arsenic galore arsenic Sheffield United, who vanished 13th.
But sure, nan playoffs are notoriously astir caller form. Here Millwall’s superiority is moreover much pronounced: 3 wins and nary defeats successful their past 5 put them 4th successful nan shape table, while Hull mislaid 2 and won only 1 of theirs and are 17th. Over nan last 10 games of nan play Millwall won 18 points, a coagulated playoff-securing level of achievement, and Hull a midtable 13. Across nan full 2nd half of nan play only Southampton – who play nan first limb of their playoff semi-final astatine Middlesbrough tomorrow lunchtime – won much points than Millwall’s 47, while Hull only sewage 35.
The 2 games they already played this play aren’t overmuch of a predictive help, some having been won 3-1 by nan distant team, though Millwall’s triumph astatine nan MKM Stadium successful March was nan much caller by 3 months (Gavin Ward, who refereed Hull’s triumph astatine nan Den, is besides successful complaint of this game). So, successful short, Millwall could really beryllium heading for a 3rd play successful nan apical tier of English football, and their first since 1989-90, erstwhile they were relegated pinch a squad that included Teddy Sheringham, Mick McCarthy, Phil Babb and Tony Cascarino.
“We’re successful nan play-offs pinch an unbelievable play but there’s still a batch to play for,” their manager, Alex Neil, told BBC Radio London this week. “For this group, what we’ve done, I deliberation we merit to person thing for our efforts travel nan extremity of it, not conscionable a pat connected nan backmost and a good done. We’re hoping location is still a fairytale ending for us.”
Sergej Jakirovic, nan Hull manager, has acquisition of large two-legged knockout ties from his clip pinch Dinamo Zagreb. “You person to beryllium very clever, aliases wise, successful these games because successful nan first game, we will not determine anything,” he said. “You person to beryllium amended successful 2 games. Who will people much goals aliases who will concede less, we will see. It’s huge, yes. Who will grip nan unit better? I tin opportunity that I tin grip unit better.”
So, a immense lucifer for 2 teams who person had outstanding seasons. “If you said Millwall would person vanished 3rd and we’d person vanished sixth astatine nan commencement of nan season, I’m judge group would person laughed astatine you,” said Hull’s apical scorer, Oli McBurnie. But who’ll beryllium laughing aft Monday’s 2nd leg?
