Sweet for Honeyman as Tigers tame Lions to bag fourth win on the bounce
HOT STREAK: George Honeyman celebrates after scoring the opener - his third in four games. Picture credit: Hull City
Hull City 2 - 1 Millwall
Sky Bet Championship
By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City correspondent
The transformation of the Tigers continued at a bitterly cold MKM Stadium today as they notched up their fourth win on the bounce, inspired by George Honeyman on his 100th appearance for the club.
Turbulence is never far away when Millwall are involved, and it seemed apt that this match was being played out as Storm Arwen ravaged the North – on the approach to the stadium, the sad sight of a felled tree in West Park, its huge trunk twisted and torn, was testament to the severe conditions.
The couple of hundred or so Millwall fans should be congratulated on making what many would have seen as a perilous journey given the weather, and before the match they would have been reasonably confident of taking the three points back down the M1, as the Lions had been widely thought to prove a far sterner test than Barnsley, Birmingham and Cardiff.
The match began fairly quietly, given all the above, with a few chances at either end.
In the fifth minute, Tom Bradshaw was fouled by Richie Smallwood about 20 yards out in a dangerous central position, but it came to nothing. Moments later at the other end, George Honeyman’s in-swinging corner nearly connected with Jacob Greaves, and then Di’Shon Bernard headed wide.
After nine minutes, Millwall went close when Jed Wallace picked the ball up on the right not far from the byline and crossed to Benik Afobe, who headed over.
In the 17th minute, Nathan Baxter tipped over a 12-yard shot from Afobe, played in by Sheyi Ojo, and from the resulting corner Josh Magennis managed to hack the ball off the line after a goalmouth scramble.
THAT’S MINE: Captain Richie Smallwood stands firm. Picture credit: Hull City
Two minutes later, a short clearance from Baxter had City fans’ hearts in their mouths for a few seconds, but Greaves dealt with it comfortably.
There wasn’t a great deal happening to warm our frozen souls - until the 29th minute, when the Tigers went ahead.
Greaves’s long-range cross from the left was inadvertently nodded back into the path of Honeyman, and it was clear from the moment his head connected with the ball that it was going to hit the back of the net.
It was his third goal in four games, and City’s return to form following Honeyman’s long-awaited comeback is surely no coincidence.
On 40 minutes, Magennis scuffed a shot that went just wide, with what must have been the faintest of deflections and keeper Bartosz Białkowski nowhere, but Honeyman was not quite near enough to pounce. From the corner, Richie Smallwood then hit row Z (well, nearly) after the ball fell to him about 25 yards out.
Then, right on the stroke of half-time, Millwall pulled level through a swift counter-attack that split the Tigers right open.
Afobe, just behind the halfway line, picked out Bradshaw with a perfect diagonal pass, and the Lions’ number 9 chipped it over the advancing Baxter with the City defence nowhere. Seconds later as the Tigers tried to hit back immediately, Mallik Wilks headed over just as the referee blew for half-time.
As the game restarted and heavy rain swirled around the stadium, the Tigers made a few in-roads into the Lions’ defence, but it was Bradshaw who had the first attempt on goal, a header straight at Baxter. Then on 53 minutes it was City who retook the lead after a mad few moments in Millwall’s box.
LANDMARK GAME: Striker Ryan Longman won it with his first goal for the club. Picture credit: Hull City
Bernard’s short corner was cleared, only for Lewis-Potter to fire it back goalwards from about 20 yards. This was blocked, and it fell to Magennis, who swung and shot. The diving Białkowski could only parry it into the path of Ryan Longman, who had the afternoon’s easiest job of tapping it in from a few yards out.
It was a special moment for the striker - his first goal for the club.
On the hour mark, similar panic stations in the City box looked odds-on to end in a Lions equaliser, as a shot from Afobe flashed across the face of goal, but the Tigers somehow kept it out.
City were hardly parking the bus as Millwall came forward again and again, and the impressive Baxter pulled off a superb stop to deny Danny McNamara from close range in the 66th minute, and from the corner, Greaves cleared off the line.
On 73 minutes Afobe shot over again as the fans in E3 kept up the volume, and Lions fans on social media were left bewildered as to how they’d not yet found a goal.
With five minutes to go, Callum Elder – brought on as a second-half substitute – was dispossessed deep in Millwall’s half, but the counter-attack came to nothing, and still the Tigers hung on. “Come on you ‘uuuuullll!” rang loudly around the stadium – so great to hear after so many wretched defeats.
In the dying minutes, substitute Tom Eaves was involved in a bit of handbags with a couple of Millwall players – it was almost surprising there hadn’t been more of this, given the London side’s reputation. It earned Eaves a booking as well as a bit of respect from the City fans, who predictably, but enjoyably, chanted “Eavesy, knock him out…”
The four minutes of added time seemed like an age, but it was City who weathered the storm. It capped what was, in the words of man-of-the-match Honeyman – as good in defence as he was on the attack – “a great week”.