EFL Play-Offs: Hull City and Millwall Battle to Stalemate
The 40th edition of the EFL play-offs crept into life in East Yorkshire, not with fireworks, but with the kind of tight, twitchy football that makes seasons and breaks them. Ninety minutes gone, no goals scored, and yet both Hull City and Millwall walked off knowing their Premier League dream still has a pulse. The real argument comes on Monday night, in south London, at The Den.
Stalemate with the stakes sky high
At the halfway point of a two-legged tie, everyone reaches for the same question: who’s actually in control? On paper, Millwall will feel they’ve played this perfectly. A 0-0 draw secured away from home, the second leg in front of their own crowd, the tie still balanced but tilting, just slightly, in their favour.
Hull will see it differently. This is a side that forced their way into the Championship’s top six under a transfer embargo, a side that has already gone to The Den this season and won. They have spent months proving people wrong. One more away performance, they’ll argue, is hardly beyond them.
The first leg never quite caught fire. It simmered instead, both teams clearly aware that one rash touch, one slip, one mistimed tackle could define their season. The tension sat over the MKM Stadium like a fog. It will clear, one way or another, in London.
Belloumi’s flash of brilliance, then the brakes
For a brief moment, it looked like the play-offs might start with a masterpiece. Early in the first half, Mohamed Belloumi took off on a run that sliced through Millwall’s shape, gliding past challenges before whipping a shot that brushed the outside of Anthony Patterson’s post.
Had it crept in, we’d be talking about one of the great play-off goals. Instead, it served as a false dawn.
That moment hinted at chaos, at chances traded and defences stretched. What followed was the opposite. The game settled into a cautious rhythm, both sides wary of showing too much too soon. Hull carried the greater threat on the counter, snapping forward when space appeared, but Millwall looked the calmer side with the ball, content to move it, probe, and wait.
Nothing truly clear-cut emerged. The match became a study in restraint. Passes that might be risked in January were turned down in May. Nobody wanted to be the villain on the highlights reel.
By half-time, the pattern was set: Hull with the sharper attacking moments, Millwall with more composure in possession, neither willing to blink.
Nerves, not chances, dominate the night
The second half posed the obvious question: would anyone dare to open up?
Not really. Not at first.
Lewie Coyle tried to seize the initiative, driving a long-range effort over the bar shortly after the restart, but that early jolt didn’t change the contest. The game retreated back into the middle third, attacks smothered before they could develop, both defences largely untroubled.
One moment captured the mood. Tristan Crama, spotting Ivor Pandur off his line, launched an ambitious effort from nearly 40 yards. It sailed harmlessly over, drawing a bewildered reaction from Alex Neil on the touchline. Ambition, yes. Precision, nowhere to be seen.
Effort was not the issue. Structure, discipline, shape – both sides had that. What they lacked was the final pass, the decisive run, the moment of cold-blooded quality that wins play-off ties.
Still, as the clock ticked towards the final 20 minutes, the question lingered over Hull in particular: were they really content to drag a goalless draw down the M1 and hand Millwall the initiative at The Den? Or did they dare to lean into the risk and chase a lead?
Late surge, late controversy
Hull blinked first.
The change of intent was almost immediate. Substitute Yu Hirakawa swung in a teasing cross from the left, and Oli McBurnie, alive to the opening, diverted it just wide. It was the kind of half-chance that had been missing all night, a reminder that this tie could turn in an instant.
The response came quickly at the other end. Femi Azeez cut inside and curled a superb effort towards the far corner, forcing Pandur into a sharp, alert save. Suddenly, the noise rose, the tackles bit harder, and the game, finally, felt like a play-off tie.
Neil turned to Barry Bannan, and the veteran’s influence was immediate. Dropping between the lines, he began to unpick Hull’s shape with the sort of passes that had been absent for most of the evening, threading balls into dangerous areas and shifting the tempo in Millwall’s favour.
Then came the flashpoint.
As stoppage time loomed, a cross arrowed into the Hull box. Ryan Leonard stole a march on the defence and prodded the ball home, only for the celebrations to be cut short. The referee penalised Crama for a pull on Charlie Hughes as the delivery came in. Goal ruled out. Hull relieved. Neil incandescent.
Millwall felt they had found their moment, only to see it taken away. Hull survived, just.
All roads lead to The Den
When the whistle went, 0-0 felt about right. Neither side did enough to win it, neither made the mistake that would lose it. The play-offs rarely start with perfection; they start with tension, and this was thick with it.
Now the tie moves to The Den, where the noise will be sharper, the margins even finer, and the prize – a step closer to Wembley – impossible to ignore.
Hull have already proved they can win there. Millwall have engineered the scenario they wanted.
On Monday night, one of them has to finally take a risk.
