City deservedly set up a trip to Wembley later this month
Mo Belloumi celebrates at The Den(Image: Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Lewie Coyle hailed matchwinner Mo Belloumi, after the Algerian winger came off the bench to fire Hull City into the Championship play-off final at Wembley, playing a deciding role in their 2-0 play-off second leg win at Millwall.
Belloumi struck a stunning goal midway through the second half, curling beyond Anthony Patterson after Matt Crooks had played him in, before he turned provider for Joe Gelhardt to power in the second 11 minutes from time.
The Tigers’ ace had only come on just before the break after a nasty-looking injury to Kyle Joseph, but his arrival sparked a stunning second-half display of attacking intent from Sergej Jakirovic’s men
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Skipper Coyle, who was part of a re-shaped defence and played a starring role of his own on a famous night at The Den, heaped praise on the star man.
“He’s incredible. We are so lucky that we’ve got so many players that can come on and impact the game,” the Tigers captain said on Sky. “We all know what that boy’s about. I’m so pleased for him. He’s had an incredibly tough injury, but it says a lot about him and the recovery team that he’s come back as he has.”
On the night itself, Coyle revealed how the players fully believed they could come to South East London and get the job done, after both sides shared a goalless draw in the first leg at the MKM Stadium.
“Incredible. It’s something we all believed we could do when we finalised the play-off spot on the last day in such dramatic fashion,” Coyle continued.
“And then we said, ‘why shouldn’t it be us?’ We’ve grafted all year to put ourselves in this position and it wasn’t just a case of us making up the play-offs. We fully believed going into the two legs against a very, very good Millwall side that we could come out on top. What a fantastic performance from the lads. So professional. We’ve got one more special game to go to achieve what everybody in that dressing room believes we can do.”
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