Play-off talk could become more substantial if Millwall can produce red-hot March form

Hull 1 

Hernandez 79

Millwall 2

Saville 1 Cooper 33

By Mike Whalley at the KCOM Stadium

Neil Harris has subtly altered his views on Millwall’s play-off chances. Having repeatedly played down the idea that his side have any chance of finishing in the Championship top six, he is at least now giving it some consideration.

The season’s key target was achieved at Hull on Tuesday night, as the Lions passed the 50-point mark that equalled Championship survival – at least in the eyes of their manager.

With another 10 games to play, there is clearly much more to aim for. Harris suggested that 60 points should be the new objective, but why not aim higher and see where momentum can take you?

As he reflected on a fifth successive away league victory – the club’s record is six – Harris looked ahead to Saturday’s home game against Brentford.

“They’re talking about chasing the play-offs,” he said of his side’s next opponents. “They’re only a point above us, so it probably says there is an outside chance that we’re going to go for it.”

Harris is right to be cautious. There is a six-point gap to make up on sixth place, and not a lot of margin for error. His side have 52 points, and recent seasons suggest that a total somewhere in the mid-to-high 70s would be needed to win that final play-off spot. If Millwall are to get there, they will probably need to win eight, maybe even nine, of those final 10 matches.

If they play as they did at home to Sunderland last Saturday, they will have no chance. Perform as they did at Hull, however, and maybe a very solid league season could just have a spectacular ending.

It was appropriate that Hull should be the place that Harris started to think of play-off possibilities, given its role in Millwall’s history. It was at the old Boothferry Park 30 years’ ago that Kevin O’Callaghan’s penalty took John Docherty’s side into the top division for the first time in the club’s history. They were briefly top of the table early in both of their seasons in the old First Division, before relegation came in 1990. Despite a couple of near-misses, they have yet to return.

If there is to be a serious push for the play-offs, then it will be crucial to maintain the work ethic that produced victory at the KCOM Stadium on Tuesday night.

It was visible from the first minute, when Tom Elliott hassled Hull captain Michael Dawson into an error, and Jed Wallace’s low cross, via a finely judged Lee Gregory backheel, allowed George Saville the opportunity to steer in an opening goal.

Hull manager Nigel Adkins called it appalling defending, and he was right, but it was reward too for Millwall’s pressing, which worried the home defence repeatedly during the first half. Elliott, brought in for Steve Morison, proved every bit as willing as the man he replaced to put in the hard work alongside the excellent Gregory. Angus MacDonald, the Hull centre-back, was so bamboozled that Adkins dragged him off at half-time.

By then, Jake Cooper, making his 50th Millwall appearance, had looped in a second goal, possibly off his shoulder rather than his head, following a Ben Marshall corner.

It would be wrong to suggest that it was a straightforward victory for the visitors. Even in a first-half display that Adkins labelled a “disgrace”, Hull still managed to hit the bar through their 13-goal top-scorer Jarrod Bowen, while Jackson Irvine glanced a header just wide, and only a magnificent block by right-back Mahlon Romeo prevented Kamil Grosicki from scoring.

Yet even though Abel Hernandez marked his comeback after six months out by pulling one back for Hull with 11 minutes left, Millwall managed to get the job done relatively comfortably.

Goalkeeper Jordan Archer did not have a great deal to do, as Cooper and captain Shaun Hutchinson kept Hull’s attack fairly quiet in the second half. Victory was a good way to get the Sunderland draw out of the system, and extended the unbeaten league run to 10 matches. Three more victories from three winnable games to see out March will give the play-off challenge some real momentum. Even Harris might not be able to reign in expectations then.