Hull Stuns Millwall to Reach Wembley as Belloumi Shines

The old story played out in brutal new colours. Millwall, so close to the Premier League they could almost feel the heat of it, watched another playoff dream die at the semi‑final stage. Again.

Defeats in 1991, 1994, 2002. Now 2024 joins the roll call. This one cuts deeper. Alex Neil’s side had finished 10 points clear of Hull, missed automatic promotion by a whisker on the final day and walked into The Den as heavy favourites. The banners, the noise, the snarling expectation – all pointed one way.

Mohamed Belloumi had other ideas.

The Algerian winger came off the bench and ripped up the script with a stunning, curling strike, before fellow substitute Joe Gelhardt twisted the knife. Hull, the team who just crept into sixth, are heading to Wembley. Millwall are heading back into the familiar ache of what‑ifs.

A night set up for Millwall – and stolen by Hull

Neil knows these nights. He took Norwich up through the playoffs in 2015, then sparked Sunderland’s climb back to the Championship in 2022. All week he had called on Millwall’s support to turn this into a landmark evening, and they responded. The first roar of “No one likes us, we don’t care” rolled around The Den as the players emerged, a statement as much as a song.

Hull walked into that noise with a plan. Sergej Jakirovic, who has dragged this squad far beyond the expectations of their modest budget since arriving last summer, switched to a back five. It was a bold change, and it rattled Millwall early on.

Charlie Hughes whipped in a free‑kick on 10 minutes that forced Anthony Patterson into the first save of the night. Hull, who had already won here 3-1 in December, settled quicker, moved the ball with more composure and looked nothing like a side supposedly making up the numbers.

Millwall eventually woke up. Once they did, the game crackled.

Thierno Ballo saw a close‑range header hacked off the line by Kyle Joseph. Femi Azeez, the winger who climbed from Northwood in the eighth tier to become one of Millwall’s most dangerous outlets, drove a fierce effort that Ivor Pandur beat away at his near post. Every time Azeez picked up the ball, Hull’s back line shuffled a little more nervously.

The pressure came in waves, but Hull refused to buckle. They carried their own threat. John Egan rose to meet a free‑kick and wasn’t far off. From the left, Ryan Giles fizzed in a wicked cross that Oli McBurnie met cleanly, only for Patterson to respond with a sharp save.

Then came the first flashpoint. Five minutes before the break, Casper De Norre’s cross struck Hughes on the arm in the area. Millwall appealed as one. Sam Barrott didn’t blink. The defender’s arm was tight to his side, and the referee instantly waved play on. The groans told their own story.

Joseph’s evening ended before half-time, the Hull forward limping off with what looked a painful ankle injury. The away fans winced. The home fans booed him off. Sympathy was in short supply in SE16.

Belloumi changes everything

Hull came out after the interval like they had in the first half – sharper, quicker, more decisive. Regan Slater slipped McBurnie through and his low effort beat Patterson, only for Tristan Crama to appear from nowhere and hook the ball off the line. It felt like a warning.

Millwall huffed, chased, crossed. Not much stuck. The tension in the stands grew with every hopeful ball into the box that drifted harmlessly away. Neil rolled the dice. Mihailo Ivanovic arrived and the shape flipped to 4-4-2. Then came the experience: Alfie Doughty and Barry Bannon thrown on to try and wrestle control of a game that was slipping away in front of them.

The breakthrough fell at the other end.

Joseph’s replacement, Belloumi, had already started to torment Millwall down the left, driving at defenders, cutting inside, asking questions. This time, he answered one. Collecting the ball on the edge of the area, he shifted it onto his right and bent a gorgeous, curling shot beyond Patterson. The ball kissed the far post and dropped in.

For a second, The Den froze. The away end did not. Hull’s supporters exploded, a sea of yellow and black bouncing in the corner of a stadium that had expected to be celebrating its own coronation.

Millwall tried to respond but their play frayed. Bannon, brought on to calm things, almost handed Slater a second with a loose pass that summed up the growing panic. At the other end, Ivanovic climbed well but headed over. Half-chances, nothing more.

Then came the moment that sealed it. Belloumi again, this time the provider, swung in a cross from the left. Gelhardt, just on the pitch, attacked it with his first touch. The contact wasn’t clean, the finish wasn’t pretty, but it was fatal. Patterson got hands to it, couldn’t hold it, and the ball squirmed through his fingers before trickling over the line.

Hull’s players sprinted towards their fans. Millwall’s players sank. The tie, and the season, slipped away with that slow roll of the ball.

Hull’s surge, Millwall’s familiar pain

From sixth place to Wembley: Hull become the first team since Frank Lampard’s Derby in 2019 to finish in the final playoff spot and still reach the showpiece. They will not arrive at the national stadium just to make up the numbers. Not after this.

For Millwall, the only faint consolation is the likelihood of another crack at West Ham next season, a rivalry not seen since 2012 and one that will at least ignite the calendar. It is a thin comfort after a campaign that promised automatic promotion and ends with another semi-final scar.

The curse goes on. The question now is how many more times this club can drag itself back to the brink and still believe the next step is coming.