Millwall in 2025/26 - Part 2

I left off by mentioning Millwall were back into the playoffs just before New Year's, even if results weren't the greatest. Part of the reason for that was everyone at the time was extremely inconsistent in form, and all it would take was one good result to shoot you right up the table. It also meant Millwall needed to find form, and fast...and luckily, the rest of the season has been almost flawless. Yes, we've got the playoffs secured, but we could still go up automatically if we beat Oxford United tomorrow. But that's a separate post.

Southampton - Millwall (1st January)

Southampton - Millwall

I've already blogged about this game, back when I visited Southampton, so I won't dwell on that game too much. Except to mention two things:

• In hindsight, we were really lucky to play Southampton when we did. Sure, I went on to mention they lost their next two matches...since then, they haven't lost a single match. They went from looking completely finished, to being on the brink of promotion this season. Fair play to them, obviously. But I'm relieved we played them before they struck the iron hot.
• I mentioned how Millwall needed to be more clinical; we ended up doing exactly that for the rest of the season. Right after this game, we scored in sixteen straight matches!

The result itself wasn't anything sensational, but it also marked the last time this season we were outside the top six. From now, things were only going to be more exciting.

We beat Swansea 2-1 in a nervy finish the very next game, with Caleb Taylor getting a last-minute winner. A tidy 2-0 win against Watford two weeks later was also delightful, and I read fans calling it one of Millwall's best performances the whole season. In the middle of that, we lost 5-1 to Burnley in the FA Cup, yes, but we didn't even put out our first squad that game. So things were looking good. And that's even considering our next league game against top of the table Coventry was a 2-1 loss; we genuinely played some terrific stuff, I watched the game on TV. We arguably should have won the game, if only we could finish our chances and hold out. Yet there's no shame in losing to Coventry, in the end.

The table before our game against Charlton

Millwall - Charlton Athletic (24th January)

Millwall - Charlton

I also blogged about this game ages ago. I even posted live updates, if anyone noticed - I don't think anyone did.

Apparently this game had the highest attendance of any Millwall home game in EFL history - just over 19,000 fans were in attendance. And alright, it was a derby match, obviously loads of fans were going to turn up. But that shouldn't take away from the reality that people were starting to realise Millwall were good again - if you want proof we've been stellar all year, this is it. 

And few games could have been as good as this one - a tidy 4-0 win, with three late goals, including Aidomo Emakhu's final as a Millwall player. He was sold to Oxford a week later, and I'll miss him for never being good enough unless you needed a late goal - what a way to sign off.

And speaking of transfers, we also made some tidy additions to our squad. In came goalie Anthony Patterson on loan from Sunderland, whilst we got some experience in midfield through EFL icon Barry Bannan joining from Sheffield Wednesday. Patterson's certainly helped out this season with some fantastic saves, and I like Bannan, even if he's been at best okay in my opinion.

February and March saw our best form yet. We beat playoff rivals in Wrexham, Birmingham City, and Hull almost comfortably, a far cry from our wobbles against them last year. February especially was solid, with four wins from five - the exception was a random loss to Portsmouth. I have absolutely no idea how Portsmouth bodied us twice this season. Either way, the end of February saw us comfortably in fourth, nine points clear of the playoffs.

The table at the end of February

March was a bit more of a stumble in comparison, but the performances continued being great. Our only defeat that month was to Blackburn Rovers, the twats. Zak Sturge was red-carded that game, and the decision was so abysmal, it was quickly overturned by the FA. The defeat hurt even more as if we won that game, we'd be second in the league. We were still fourth, sure, but god, why do we always lose to Blackburn?

We ended March with a vital 1-1 draw to Ipswich Town. That match was randomly on ITV, so I watched it with my dad. I was busy revising at the same time, so I missed us scoring an equaliser; sadly, I witnessed Mihailo Ivanovic somehow miss a golden opportunity for us in injury time, smashing the crossbar with a strike inside the penalty area. Still fourth - solid in the playoffs, fighting for autos...but it could have been so much more than that.

The table at the end of March, before the Middlesbrough match

And yet, you may have been completely unaware that all this was happening. Okay, I don't mean the typical AO2a reader, who might not even care for football. But the sports media in the UK was silent on Millwall all season. Up to this point, we'd had the fewest televised fixtures out of all teams in the Championship. We'd also had barely any articles written about us online. Worst of all, even Championship fans online seemed to be unaware we were fighting for promotion - if it was brought up on social media, invariably you'd have someone say "hope they don't go up" because hooliganism in the 80s. I know the Championship isn't that big a league, but I still found it so baffling how our season had gone so unrecognised by literally everyone. We were an underdog in the truest sense of the word - we weren't spending our way to glory, we didn't have wealthy owners. And yet...

Middlesbrough - Millwall (3rd April)

Middlesbrough - Millwall

I also blogged about this game - I won't dwell on it too much, either. But I would like to add how nervous I felt throughout and after the game - sure, we won, and were now in second - in an auto promotion spot! However, I felt like we were immensely lucky to get away with anything at all, and we'd lucked out on Middlesbrough being terrible at scoring. Besides, fellow promotion rivals Ipswich had a game in hand, so our position was far from safe.

This was the table after the match, just to prove how close it still was:

Being in second should have made me feel calmer about our prospects - I was still worried we might not make it into the playoffs. All it would take was a few bad results, and all optimism would be lost.

My fears were almost confirmed. Our next game against Norwich was how I assumed the Middlesbrough game would end - a defeat with an abject performance. I had a ticket to go to the match, but I chose to study that day instead, and I followed the game on the radio. Norwich dominated, and sure they were in good form going into the match, but we were outclassed so often, it was a bit shameful. The next game was against West Brom, who were randomly in a relegation battle this season, and we drew 0-0. My dad went to the game, and said Millwall were terrible that day. 

And yet...none of the teams around us were much better in their next two matches. We were still in third place afterwards! It felt like all the teams gunning for promotion, especially us and Middlesbrough, had run out of steam right when it mattered. 

And yet...

Millwall - Queens Park Rangers (18th April)

Millwall - QPR

Somehow we came back to life in this London derby. The game was dominated by a young French midfielder we signed this season - Derek Mazou-Sacko. He was all over the pitch that day, making crucial tackles, passes, and even scored a decent goal from outside the box to put us in the lead. At the end of the game, he even got a standing ovation from all the fans. We comfortably won 2-0, thanks to QPR being terrible all game long. The second half wasn't much to sing about, sure - we never got back into second gear after scoring twice - but a win's a win, and I'll take that. We even returned to second for a day, before Ipswich took that position. Oh and by now, Coventry were promoted, so there was only one automatic spot left.

As you can see from the table, we were actually faring well after that game. We only needed Ipswich to not win twice, and for us to win all our remaining games to go up straight away. Southampton were the dark horse at the time, they just kept on winning every game, so we were lucky we played them when we did. Middlesbrough were in freefall, you can ignore them now. But with that win, unless Wrexham pulled off a miracle and we completely fell apart...

we'd made it into the playoffs!!! ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜

We had three games left: Stoke, Leicester, and Oxford. Stoke was an easy 3-1 win, taking us back into second place, whilst Southampton drew 2-2 to Bristol City that same day to give us some distance to them. The next day, Ipswich beat Charlton 2-1 to bring themselves back into second, and Middlesbrough also won that day. It was going to be tight right up to the end:

League table before the game against Leicester

Leicester, meanwhile, had recently been relegated - on paper, it looked like an easy win for us. Yet somehow, it ended up being 1-1, where we salvaged a late goal in injury time to avoid defeat. Luckily Ipswich drew 0-0 with West Brom soon after, so we'd still be third going into the final matchweek, but it was an uncomfortable position to be in. If only we'd won, we'd have promotion firmly in our hands. Middlesbrough also ended up winning, making everything tighter up top.

There was one game left...Ipswich had to go away to Southampton - all this time still undefeated, mind you - and if Ipswich won, they'd basically be promoted since their goal difference was so superior to ours. In fact, they were even leading 1-0 at some point. But thankfully Southampton battled to a 2-2 draw, sacrificing their own promotion hopes to keep us in the hunt.

So this is what the table looks like with one game left: 

Whilst we take on Oxford, Ipswich face QPR, and Middlesbrough take on Wrexham. We just need to win and hope Ipswich don't...but I'll discuss what went on that day in part 3.

Either way, I'm glad we've made it to the final day. For Millwall, this is almost unpredecented, and I'm so proud of the team and how they've played. Now we just need to hope everything falls into place.