Millwall in 2025/26 - Part 3

Might be worth reading part 1 and especially part 2 if you haven't already.

Ahead of our game against Oxford, this is what the top of the table looked like:

1. Coventry City (P) - 92 points
2. Ipswich Town - 81 points (GD: +30)
3. Millwall - 80 points (GD: +13)
4. Middlesbrough - 79 points (GD: +25)

Any team below Middlesbrough was out of the promotion race, so we can disregard them. 

On the final matchday, these were the important games:

• Millwall - Oxford United
• Ipswich Town - Queens Park Rangers
• Wrexham - Middlesbrough

Luckily, we can summarise all this into two bullet points. 

Millwall - Oxford United (2nd May)

The start of Millwall - Oxford

Before the game, the plan was simple:

• Beat Oxford
• Hope Ipswich don't win at home to QPR

Sure, Middlesbrough could still go up, but they were irrelevant to us. Winning meant we'd finish above them regardless. Our goal difference was laughably bad compared to Ipswich, hence we needed to win to stand a chance.

Oxford had been relegated only the week before, so on paper this looked like an easy win. But remember, a week earlier we had faced Leicester, who were recently relegated, and shuffled to a lacklustre 1-1 draw. If we'd won that game, we'd be in control, clear of Ipswich by two points. Instead, we had to pray to QPR, who hadn't won in their past five.

The game began, and the Den was more full than ever. I was stuck standing on the stairs the whole time, as were loads of others, and everyone was buzzing. The only hitch was that Ipswich ended up scoring twice against QPR in the first ten minutes, before we'd even scored a goal, so second place was almost instantly off the table. 

Oxford approached the game incredibly defensively, mostly settling for chances on the counter, whilst we swarmed their box for chances. Femi Azeez and Ryan Leonard were crossing balls into the box, with no one ever being on the other end, and I could tell everyone around me was slowly becoming more disgruntled. But everyone chanted throughout the whole game, while I constantly checked the Ipswich score, slowly realising we'd have to settle for the playoffs in the end.

Azeez did eventually score, after a quick break that left him in loads of space, and slotted the ball into the roof of the net. We'd paid our share of the bargain, now we needed QPR to start playing football. But at half time, nothing seemed to be going our way.

I missed Azeez scoring his second, a tidy tap-in following a smart cross into the box by Thierno Ballo. Truthfully, I wasn't in doubt that we were going to win the match from hereon out, unless Oxford managed to get one back, and luckily, they were hardly a threat. The rest of the game was somewhat boring, as I kept on checking to see if QPR had got one back...and they never did. In fact, Ipswich went on to win 3-0, and with that, they had promotion in the bag.

 

After the final whistle, though, it didn't seem like anyone cared. We chanted "Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be, we're going to Wembley, que sera sera", and my dad started looking up when playoff tickets would become available. Some kids stormed the pitch, and the stadium announcer told people to get off. There was a small skirmish in the stands, I have no idea why. But we were proud of our team, everything they'd achieved, because, to be honest, they had succeeded. Third place, our highest in the Championship for nearly forty years, with our best ever points tally, too!

I was disappointed at the time, but in hindsight, I had no reason to. The performance was quite good as well - if this was a January match-up, I'd be ecstatic!

The final standings - Millwall in third!

The playoffs - 8th and 11th May

Whilst all this was going on, there was a battle for sixth place between Hull, Wrexham, and Derby County. Hull won out in the end, beating Norwich 2-1, whilst Wrexham were held to a draw against Middlesbrough and Derby lost their game. This meant our playoff game was against Hull.

I was relieved when it was confirmed. Hull had been struggling for the past few weeks, in fact them beating Norwich almost came out of nowhere. Derby on the other hand had been silently consistent for the past month, and Wrexham were, well...Wrexham. Beloved by the media, whilst also being solid on the pitch - I doubted that could end well for us. In theory, any of those games was winnable for us, we just needed to get the job done, and the final at Wembley would be waiting for us.

The first leg was played away, at Hull. I listened to the game on the radio, and honestly, it didn't sound all that exciting. Maybe I was too occupied with whatever else I was doing at the time, but aside from a disallowed goal for Millwall late on, there was basically nothing of note throughout the whole 90 minutes. It ended 0-0, which was alright at the time, I guess.

At home to Hull, watching from the corridor

The second leg was at home, and luckily, I got a ticket. It took ages to get into the stadium, what with the swarms of people outside the stands, it took about twenty minutes to enter, and even then, I was confined to watching the match without a seat. It was extremely nervy for most of the first half, with Hull not offering much, aside from the odd time-wasting. We had a ten minute spell where we could have scored loads, we just weren't clinical enough, all our crosses resulted in nothing. It was 0-0 at the break, and I was certain the game was going to go all the way to penalties.

Half-time was strangely satisfying, though. All the stress was briefly gone, I'd managed to find a seat up in the stands. The stadium announcer mentioned a fan who had flown all the way from LA just to watch the game. I still thought we'd go through, maybe that's why I felt like I did.

The second half didn't start that poorly. We were inconsistent, sure, but that's probably because Hull had brought on Mohamed Belloumi, a brilliant winger who was causing chaos for our defence. And then I had to endure a fan next to me calling all our players shit. Alright, we hadn't started off well, and I was desperate to remain optimistic. Maybe the fan had a point, but it still felt too early to start complaining.

Hull scored in the 64nd minute. Belloumi scored a decent goal from the edge of the box, all because one of our players, I'm not sure who, didn't tackle him. The away fans were euphoric, the guy next to me only grew angrier. We'd seemingly forgotten how to pass, how to make chances, and we grew sloppier over time. Every moment Hull were on the break, they looked like scoring.

They scored again in the 79th minute. It felt like torture, seeing the game unfold as it did, ever more dreary. The Hull fans chanted "you're getting mauled by the tigers", probably the worst chant I've ever heard, as the game dragged itself to a close. We lost 2-0, we were out of the playoffs. The season ended as I expected it would - palpable disappointment - but much later than usual.

I'm not entirely sure if I'm looking forward to next season, to be honest. This felt like our golden opportunity, and we couldn't take it. I reckon we might even be closer to relegation than the playoffs next season, mainly since we were heavily reliant on momentum at times to grind out results. I reckon players like Azeez and Crama will likely leave the club, and we'll have to start all over again - if we don't get the transfers right, it could end poorly for us. The only things keeping me optimistic right now are:

• Most clubs take a while to get promoted, it takes a few seasons to become serious contenders. Just look at Brentford and Coventry City, both now in the Premier League; the former could even be in the Champions League next season.
• No one expected us to be this high up this season. On the whole, whilst being stuck here for another year isn't pleasant, it's what I would have expected a year back.

I'm just sick of having to see the same teams every year, to be honest. Looking at who'll be joining the Championship next season, none of them look interesting, let alone are exciting away days. Plus it's always worse being the bridesmaid instead of the bride, and I'm not sure if we'll ever get to be the bride.

Oh well, on to next season, then.

The end of season awards

Best player in the ten games I watched: Tristan Crama. This could have gone to anybody, I suppose, but I feel like without him, we'd have finished way outside the playoffs. Solid at the back, and sometimes able to chip in a crucial goal when we need one. The only caveat to this is he's far better as a right back than in the centre, which showed in the last few games where Caleb Taylor, usually partnering him in defence, was out injured. We had Ryan Leonard playing there, and he's a good lad, but he's far from Crama when it comes to attacking down that right flank.

Best match watched: Somehow, considering the season we've had, I can only think of two games out of the ten where we were consistently great. Those were the 4-0 dismantling of Charlton, in a terrific rivalry game, and the 2-1 win where we edged past Middlesbrough. Charlton was an all-round perfect performance, especially against a side who preferred shoving us around instead of playing football. And Middlesbrough wasn't the smoothest game to watch, in fact it left me panicking throughout, but it was possibly the first time this season where I felt promotion was a real possibility. But if I had to pick one, I'd go with the Charlton match.