HULL City boss Sergej Jakirovic said his side’s 0-0 draw in the first leg of their play-off semi-final against Millwall at The MKM Stadium on Friday night was a “fair result”.
Hull’s Mo Belloumi hit the outside of the post inside two minutes before Lions midfielder Camiel Neghli’s effort from 22 yards flicked off the outside of the opposite post in the second half.
Alex Neil’s visitors thought they had nicked it when Ryan Leonard finished from close range, but referee Gavin Ward gave a foul against Tristan Crama on Charlie Hughes.
The sides will meet again at The Den on Monday night for a place in the final against Southampton or Middlesbrough, who drew 0-0 at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
“Expected game, very tough, very difficult, a fight for every ball in the air and on the ground,” Jakirovic said. “Who will be more successful with the first and second ball?
“Maybe we had the best chance in the game through Mo Belloumi at the beginning of this game. I thought it was a goal because Mo did everything fantastically, but unfortunately, he hit the post.
“After, we tried to control them and sometimes make pressure, to direct them to the one side – sometimes successfully, sometimes not so successfully.
“We had some nice actions, good counter-attacks through ‘Joffo’ (Joe Gelhardt), Liam Millar, (Ryan) Giles, but we didn’t find the last pass.
“We were sometimes very hectic around the box, in the box, with the ball. We have to improve that.
“We controlled the long throw-ins and corners very well because they are very powerful there. Second half, we tried to close the channels we allowed in the first half – and we did that.
“Until 70 minutes, we had some situations we could have used but lacked the last pass or a better decision.
“After 70, they had control, especially in possession. Maybe we dropped too much, but they didn’t create anything dangerous.
“In the end, I think it was a fair result, 0-0.”
Jakirovic felt the referee as right to give the decision against Crama.
He said: “It’s a clear foul. I saw that immediately. If you take with the two hands and spin the player around it is a foul.”
Ward sent off Millwall’s Femi Azeez earlier this season, with plenty of Lions fans fearing the worst when he was appointed to referee this game.
And Neil had a different view to Jakirovic on the referee’s late decision.
“I’d be interested to see what the referee’s thoughts on the disallowed goal are because I thought it was quite harsh,” Neil said.
“I thought all in all you could see that that [performance] should give us confidence to try and win the game on Monday.
“We didn’t play as if we didn’t want to lose, we played like we wanted to try and win the game.
“We need to remember that a lot of our lads haven’t really played in this type of match before and the only chance of note they had was right at the start.
“I’m not naive, I think that when we go back to our place Hull are really comfortable soaking up pressure and playing on the counter-attack.
“I thought the atmosphere was good and that’s what you get in the game for.”
