The striker bagged a brace at The Den in December
Kyle Joseph bagged a brace at The Den before Christmas(Image: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)
Kyle Joseph admits the jibes have already begun between him and his Millwall-supporting father, ahead of Hull City’s Championship play-off semi-final against the Lions on Friday night.
City host the side that finished third in the Championship under the lights, before the pair do it all again in Bermondsey on Monday evening for a place in the Wembley final later this month.
Joseph has previous with Millwall, having scored twice at The Den in December to help City to a commanding 3-1 win, while seeing a perfectly good goal ruled out during the MKM Stadium meeting in March, which Alex Neil’s side won by the same score.
The forward, who has been a key part of Sergej Jakirovic’s winning formula this season, says that despite family allegiances, pride is the big feeling going into two finely-poised ties.
“He’s had a few digs here and there at me already, but no, he’s buzzing,” Joseph told Hull Live. “I remember I used to watch play-off games, Millwall versus Leeds, when I was younger, when they were in League One. He used to have it on the tele and we’d watch it together and stuff like that
“I think it’s going to be a pinch-me moment for him when he sees his son playing against them in the play-offs. We have a laugh, and we have banter, but yeah, he’s really proud to see me playing against his team. It’s a dream for him to have a look at.”
Joseph’s Bermondsey brace just before Christmas was added to with Oli McBurnie’s late header to see a crucial win, backing up the home victory over Wrexham just a couple of days before, and he says that performance didn’t impress his old man, either.
“It took me a good couple of hours to get a phone call out of him,” chuckled the 24-year-old. “Even stuff like that, he rang me, he’s so proud of me, and then he sent a text afterwards, not a very nice text, saying at the ‘end of the day you’ve done my team.’
“He’s been massively supportive, as all my family have, you know, and I think that’s what you need as a footballer, you need to have your family around you in the tough moments, like last year was a tough moment for me. I had a tough season, and then to go on this season, I’ve had them all around me, so a lot of praise goes to them.
“One hundred per cent, I’d be happy with that. He probably won’t, but then he will,” he joked about getting a snotty message should City claim the advantage after the first leg.
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To get to the play-offs, the Tigers needed to better Wrexham’s result, which they did before the full-time whistle sparked memorable celebrations.
Joseph admits the post-match scenes on Saturday will live long in the memory, with him enjoying the moment with his partner and young daughter.
“That’s something I’ll never forget. Those memories are priceless,” Joseph continued. “She probably won’t remember it. You see the lads with the families at the end of the game and stuff like that, and it’s the reason why you do what you do, and for it all to come together on the final day, I think, probably no better way to do it. Surrounded by the lads, the people that you share a changing room with, that you see day to day. That was a special feeling celebrating with everyone on Saturday.
Everyone’s always gonna have an opinion on the celebration and stuff like that. My opinion, I think it’s certainly warranted. We should celebrate 100 million per cent because last year we were down at Pompey away, thinking the worst, what was gonna happen, we were in the relegation zone at the start of the day. We ended up staying up, and then on Saturday, we weren’t in the play-offs; we ended up getting in the play-offs.
“For us, we see how hard we worked every single day for the past 10 months or so, all the graft that we put in, all the ups, all the downs, the family sacrifice and stuff like that. Everyone’s well within their right to celebrate and enjoy the occasion, enjoy the moment, because when you look back on this in years to come, you never know what could happen. It could all be done tomorrow, so it’s about celebrating it, being in the moment and having the memories to look back on and being fond of it.”
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