Hull City vs Millwall. Sky Bet Championship.
MKM StadiumAttendance21,486.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Hull City and Millwall at the MKM Stadium on Saturday | Jaden Philogene seals narrow victory for the Tigers over the Lions.
Saturday 3 February 2024 19:12, UK
Jaden Philogene's early goal helped Hull beat Millwall and move into the Championship play-off spots.
The winger struck in the fifth minute as the Tigers secured a second consecutive win.
The victory moved Hull, who handed starts to January signings Ryan Giles and Anass Zaroury, into sixth spot, one point above Coventry.
Millwall have now taken just a point from their last four games, with just two goals in that time. They are five points off the relegation places.
Fabio Carvalho, the youngster on loan from Liverpool, went close to adding a second goal as Hull dominated the first 45 minutes.
Joe Edwards sent forward Tom Bradshaw on for Millwall at half-time and the visitors threatened in the second half but struggled to many quality opportunities.
They could have equalised when Zian Flemming's bold attempt to lob Hull goalkeeper Ryan Allsop landed on the goal, which was their final genuine chance to nick a point.
Hull's Liam Rosenior:
"It was a really pleasing day because I was fearful before the game that there had been so much positive news surrounding the club.
"As a manager, sometimes, that makes you a little bit nervous; I didn't want us to be complacent and all of the noise we needed to filter out.
"Some of our football in the first half was excellent and it's great to be able to say we can improve after winning a game of football.
"In terms of the first-half performance, other than really having teeth and finishing off Millwall, there were some really good signs - for Anass, his first game, Ryan Giles, his debut, and Jaden's first game back in two months.
"I wanted the second goal because I felt our energy levels would tail off naturally.
"Overall, delighted to win the game and a lot of positive signs in the way we want to play - the understanding, the connection between the players."
Millwall's Joe Edwards:
"Very much a game of two halves in terms of our performance. We didn't play well in the first half.
"They get a dream start after four minutes, albeit a sloppy error from us around the box, but someone hits an absolute rocket against the bar and it rebounds to their player and he finishes really well.
"They really grew in confidence and they are a team that loves to drift around the pitch and play good possession.
"They are a good footballing team. That is why they are up that end of the division, and we respect that.
"But we had our moments to take the sting out the game, as we have done in other games in recent weeks, but we didn't do it and we were a bit sloppy.
"Second half we were a lot sharper in what we were doing, we were cleaner on the ball.
"In that final 20 minutes we were a lot clearer of what our idea was supposed to be, using our wing-back and switching play, and we had more about us."
