The Tigers head to South London for the second leg on Monday night
The MKM Stadium was packed to the rafters on Friday night (Image: Greig Cowie/Shutterstock)
Alex Neil was full of praise for the atmosphere generated by Hull City‘s supporters in the first leg of the Championship play-off semi-final on Friday night.
More than 24,600 packed into a sold-out MKM Stadium to watch City and Millwall play out a keenly contested 0-0 draw under the lights, with attention turning to Monday’s return in London.
It was the second successive home game City’s fans had sold out, and generated a terrific atmosphere for, and Neil, who guided his side to a third-place finish in the regular season, was impressed.
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“I just think a bit frantic,” he said of the early stages, which saw Mo Belloumi hit the post inside two minutes. “I thought the atmosphere was very good, so credit to both sets of fans for that. I thought it was good, and that’s what you’re in the game for, isn’t it, to get into that atmosphere.”
While content with the result, Neil is under no illusions about the threats that City pose, especially away from home, as he witnessed first hand in the league game at The Den in December, which City won 3-1.
“We played like we wanted to try and win the game, but what we need to remember is that a lot of other lads, in particular, have not really played in these types of matches before,” the Scotsman continued.
“The only one really of note that I could think of, the chances they had were right at the start when he (Mo Belloumi) sort of comes inside. I think beyond that, I can’t remember too much that caused us any issues.
“Listen, I’m not naive. I think that when we go back to our place, Hull are really comfortable playing, soaking up pressure and hitting the counter-attack. This game is for them as well; they’ll be looking at it, thinking, if we can do what we do well, then we can also win the game, which they can.
“We’ve just got to have enough quality and make sure we try and get that first goal and break them down. If we do that, it then brings them out, and then from there, it’ll be a shootout at that point.”
Both sets of supporters have snapped up all the available tickets for the big one on Monday night, and Neil is keen for his side to make the most of what will be an expectant home backing.
“We’ve got to (make the most of the home backing). If you look at any sort of legs of the play-offs, you’ll always say if you’ve got a leg at home in the second leg, all square, and you’ve got to go and win it to get through, you would take that every day of the week, wouldn’t you?
“Do you know what I mean? You would take it because the onus is on us to play well enough to win the game. We’re on our home ground, we’re going to have all the backing. It’s up to us to get the job done.”
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