Millwall manager Alex Neil admitted Hull City were the stronger side despite his team securing a valuable 3–1 win at the MKM Stadium in their push for promotion. The Lions claimed all three points, but Neil acknowledged his team struggled for large parts of the contest.
Millwall opened the scoring through Jake Cooper, but Hull quickly responded as Joe Gelhardt equalised just four minutes later. The home side thought they had turned the game around when Kyle Joseph headed home, only for referee David Webb to disallow the goal after ruling that Oli McBurnie had fouled goalkeeper Anthony Patterson.
Hull continued to control much of the game, but late mistakes proved costly. A misjudgement from Ivor Pandur allowed Mihailo Ivanovic to score a simple finish, while an error from Semi Ajayi later gave Josh Coburn the chance to run through and wrap up the victory.
Despite the result, Neil admitted his side had not performed well.
“It’s a good win for us, but the performance wasn’t great,” the Scotsman said. “I wasn’t happy at half-time, which is why I made two substitutions. We also lost Casper De Norre before the match, so we had to reshuffle things, which wasn’t ideal.
“The preparation for the game wasn’t perfect with a few small issues, but that’s not an excuse. Hull played better overall and looked dangerous, but of course we’re delighted to come away with the three points.”
Speaking about Hull’s disallowed goal in the first half, Neil said he initially believed it had been awarded.
“To be honest, I haven’t seen it again,” he told Hull Live. “At the time I thought the referee had given the goal. I’m not even sure what the decision was for, so I can’t really give an opinion on it.”
Neil added that physical battles like that are common in games played on difficult pitches.
“The pitch isn’t great in the middle, so a lot of the early balls go long. They’ve got McBurnie and we’ve got Coburn – two similar types of players – so it becomes a bit of a wrestling match. If those decisions balance themselves out during the game, both managers are usually satisfied.
“But when you feel the calls go one way, it can be frustrating. I will say the referee has a tough job. Those situations are hard to judge when you’ve got two big 6ft 4 players battling for the ball. That’s just part of football. And if you watch me on the touchline most weeks, I’m usually animated and not too happy anyway.”
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