City have been the Championship’s surprise package this season
Oli McBurnie slotted in Hull City’s winner against Norwich City(Image: Greig Cowie/Shutterstock)
Former EFL striker Sam Parkin says Hull City’s achievement in getting into the play-offs is one of the stories of another exhilarating Championship campaign.
Written off by many at the start of the season, Sergej Jakirovic’s men claimed the play-off place their season deserved after beating Norwich City 2-1 at the MKM Stadium on Saturday to clinch sixth spot.
City spent four months inside the top six before being dislodged after losing at Leicester City, with Wrexham leapfrogging the Tigers going into the final day, but Oli McBurnie’s double, coupled with the Welsh outfit failing to beat Middlesbrough, was enough.
The Tigers, who have won one and lost one against Millwall this season, host the Lions in the first leg of the play-off semi-final on Friday night, with Parkin suggesting nobody will be taking the Tigers lightly.
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“This is one of the stories of the EFL season. They were expected to finish nowhere near the top six after last season’s struggles,” said Parkin.
“They took a different kind of approach, signing Championship veterans, the likes of John Egan, Paddy McNair, John Lundstram and Oli McBurnie. These are guys that have been there and done it in the second tier.
“It’s definitely been a different tact, in contrast to their more recent approaches, where they’ve signed a lot of players from the continent with varying degrees of success.
“I think appointing the manager, Sergej Jakirovic, has been a masterstroke. They were written off this season and they were the ones everyone thought would drop out of the top six.
“They had Norwich, probably the hardest game out of them, Derby and Wrexham, because Norwich have had an unbelievable 2026, so full credit to Hull (City). And because of that experience, they’re a force to be reckoned with because they don’t give much away.”
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