Championship
Millwall 0 – 2 (2) Hull City FT
Mo Belloumi and Joe Gelhardt came off the bench to score the goals that sent Hull City to Wembley as they beat Millwall in their Championship play-off semi-final second leg at The Den.
Having replaced the injured Kyle Joseph in the first half, Belloumi cut inside to curl in a brilliant opener off the far post after 64 minutes – breaking the deadlock in the tie after a goalless first leg.
Another of Sergej Jakirovic’s changes proved inspired as Gelhardt scored within a minute of coming on, firing low through the grasp of Millwall goalkeeper Anthony Patterson.
Hull finished 10 points behind third-placed Millwall in the league table and are on course to continue their 100% record in the Championship play-offs, having won promotion via that route in 2007-08 and 2015-16.
The Tigers will face Southampton or Middlesbrough in the final on Saturday, 23 May, for a chance to join Coventry City and Ipswich Town in the Premier League next season.
Saints and Boro play their second leg on Tuesday, following a 0-0 draw in the first leg.
Subs make key contributions as Hull reach Wembley
While Millwall boss Alex Neil opted to field the same XI from the first leg on Friday, Jakirovic made two changes, opting to drop his two eventual match-winners, bringing in Joseph and Semi Ajayi and playing with a back three.
The visitors made a bright start and looked dangerous from set pieces, with Charlie Hughes drawing a save from Patterson and then heading wide.
Millwall, who have been outside the top flight since 1990, then began to take control of the game on their home turf, with Femi Azeez forcing a save from Ivor Pandur with a shot from a tight angle after a sustained period of pressure.
The pivotal moment came late in the first half when Joseph’s foot appeared to get caught under a challenge from Thierno Ballo, forcing him off injured.
To the astonishment of his manager, Algerian Belloumi was not ready to come on, which meant his side had to play briefly with 10 players.
However, once the second half kicked off, the 23-year-old’s impact on the right wing was clear and it was he who came up with the game’s biggest moment of quality.
Moments after Barry Bannan and Alfie Doughty had come on for Millwall, Belloumi found himself one-on-one with Doughty on the right, took a step inside and stunned The Den with a goal worthy of winning any game.
Belloumi was also at the heart of Hull’s second goal, stealing the ball from Milllwall captain Jake Cooper on the halfway line and surging upfield, before switching the play across to Gelhardt on the other side.
Gelhardt took a touch before firing low across goal and his former Sunderland team-mate Patterson got both hands to it but could not keep it out, with possibly the deftest of deflections off Ryan Leonard making an impact.
As Millwall threw players forward, spaces opened up and Matt Crooks had a chance to put the game out of sight, running clean through but chipping the ball into the hands of Patterson.
From near relegation to brink of Premier League
Rewind to May 2025 and Hull were staring down the barrel of relegation to League One.
A 1-1 draw at Portsmouth kept the Tigers in the second tier on goal difference at the expense of Luton Town, having gone into their final fixture in the drop zone.
Ruben Selles departed, Jakirovic was brought in and the transformation this season has been extraordinary.
Yet even then, it all could have been so different. Having spent much of the campaign in the top six, a run of just two wins in 11 matches meant they dropped out of the play-off spots in the closing weeks of the season.
A final-day win against Norwich nudged them into sixth spot ahead of Wrexham and Derby County, and they now have an opportunity to return to the Premier League for the first time since 2017.
Millwall will rue Leonard’s disallowed goal in the first leg, when Tristan Crama was penalised for a foul on Hughes, which would have given them a lead to take back to London.
The Lions missed out on automatic promotion by just one point but have had a season to remember, recording their highest league finish since 1993-94, but are still left waiting for their first semi-final win in the second tier.