City’s talisman cannot wait for the play-offs to kick off
Oli McBurnie will have a big part to play in the play-off semi-final(Image: Ashley Allen/Getty Images)
Oli McBurnie can’t wait for Friday’s first leg of the Championship play-off final against Millwall, and the return at The Den on Monday night, with Hull City looking to make it to Wembley.
The Lions finished third in the table, just a point behind Ipswich Town, who secured an instant return to the Premier League after thumping QPR on the final day.
McBurnie was full of praise for the job Alex Neil has done in South East London, and is relishing coming up against a side he scored against at The Den before Christmas to put the seal on a deserved 3-1 success.
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! Latest Hull City news and analysis on our Hull Live FB page
“I think they’ve been brilliant,” McBurnie told Hull Live. “I think what the manager’s done there, I really like their manager, really pragmatic in the way that they’ve (gone about it). If you said Millwall would have finished third and we’d have finished sixth at the start of the season, I’m sure people would have laughed at you. They’ve been unbelievable this year, and deserve (to be) where they are.
“It was unfortunate that they couldn’t go up automatically, but yeah, it’ll be two good ties, it’s two good grounds. I like playing at Millwall, the atmosphere will be nice and enjoyable there on Monday.
“One of the reporters just said I’m made for games like that, I said, ‘What do you mean by that?’ But he didn’t respond; he just laughed. I was asking him a genuine question, but he just laughed at me, so I don’t know what he meant by that.
“These are the games you want to be involved in as a footballer. You want the pressure. I was so excited. I feel like a little kid again. I couldn’t really sleep because of how excited I was for the game. I just had a feeling the game would go our way and my way, and it did.”
LISTEN: Sergej Jakirovic and Kyle Joseph preview the play-off semi-final
McBurnie’s brace in the win over Norwich City took his tally to 17 in the Championship, having already gone past the 15-goal target Sergej Jakirovic set when he joined the club back in the summer.
With a huge smile on his face, McBurnie admitted he was due a special prize in return for surpassing that impressive target set by his manager.
“He owes me something,” the forward joked. “I’m gonna find out what I’m getting because I’m owed something, that’s all I know. We’ll find out, and I’ll tell you soon.”
Here at Hull Live, we are dedicated to bringing you the best Hull City coverage and analysis. Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group.
You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.