Substitutes Mohamed Belloumi and Joe Gelhardt ended Millwall’s Premier League dream as Hull City secured a 2-0 victory at The Den to reach the Championship play-off final.
The duo climbed off the bench to secure the win in south London, booking a Wembley date with either Middlesbrough or Southampton a week on Saturday.
The Tigers only sneaked into the play-offs on the final day in sixth place and looked like big underdogs after Friday’s goalless home leg. However, they now bid to emulate the Dean Windass-inspired side of 2008 and Mohamed Diame’s class of 2016 by sealing a return to the top flight for the first time in nine years.
A sold-out, snarling Den provided a unique, intimidating atmosphere for its biggest game since reaching the same stage in 2002. The air of menace seemed to get to Hull’s Liam Millar in the opening moments when his long throw slipped out of his fingers and landed just three feet in front of him.
Despite that, Hull started brightly, with Charlie Hughes forcing a save from Lions goalkeeper Anthony Patterson with a far-post header from Regan Slater’s corner. Millwall soon found their rhythm, and Thierno Ballo saw an effort hacked off the line before Femi Azeez’s angled drive was beaten away by Hull keeper Ivor Pandur.
Hull regrouped, with John Egan heading a Millar cross just too high and Oli McBurnie’s header tipped over by Patterson. The visitors lost dangerman Kyle Joseph to injury shortly before half-time but almost broke the deadlock two minutes after the restart when Slater reached the byline and pulled the ball back for McBurnie, whose stab at goal was hacked off the line by Tristan Crama.
The breakthrough arrived in the 64th minute when Matt Crooks found Belloumi, who had replaced the stricken Joseph, in acres of space on the right. The Algerian cut inside onto his right foot before curling a superb effort around Patterson’s dive and inside the far post.
The tie was wrapped up when Belloumi fed Gelhardt, who had only been on the pitch for two minutes but held his nerve to beat Patterson and send the away end into raptures. For Millwall fans, the only consolation is that their historic rivals West Ham look increasingly likely to join them in the Championship next season.
