Sergej Jakirovic calls on Hull City to be less 'hectic' at Millwall after goalless first leg
Sergej Jakirovic said Hull City's Championship play-off semi-final first leg went as expected, but he says his team needs to be "less hectic" at the New Den on Monday.
Hull held Millwall to a 0-0 draw in a tight game at the MKM Stadium where both sides hit the woodwork, but it was a game of few quality chances.
Asked for his assessment, the Tigers coach said: "Expected game. A very tough fight for every ball, every challenge, every duel on the ground, in the air. Maybe we had the best chance in the game through Mo Belloumi when he hit the post (after two minutes) and after.
"Of course, they are very dangerous from set-pieces, long throw-ins, so I think that we handled this and maybe we were, in some situations, very hectic with the ball around the box, in the box, because you can take extra touch, you can bring better decisions.
"And the second half, I think that we started very well, that we pressed and pushed them there until 70 minutes, but unfortunately we didn't score. And then after 70 minutes, they had control, especially in possession, but they didn't create anything dangerous for us.
"And in the end, it's a fair result, like I said, nothing will be decided tonight."
Millwall had a goal disallowed late on for a foul by Camiel Neghli, which Jakirovic felt was in keeping with the way referee Gavin Ward allowed the game to be played.
"It's a clear foul in attack, I saw that immediately, because if you take with the two hands and spinning around the player, this is a foul," he said.
"They missed, I think 10 fouls on McBurnie, and even on Mo Belloumi in the second half, this is a clear foul, because Mo Belloumi is passing you, driving the ball, and you're pulling him from behind, this is even a yellow card in football.
"I'm used to it."
He says his players will have to be more composed in the bear-pit atmosphere in Millwall.
"We lacked this final ball, it was hectic, because you have to be calm on the ball, so you can drive the ball, commit the players, hit the ball, somebody will jump on you, you can pass him easily, but we played one-touch pass," he reflected.
"We already played there, so in the end it's 11-11.
"Today it was a great atmosphere, very loud, everything, supporters, so it's 11-11, so we will try everything to reach the final.
"Of course, it will be much more space because they will take risk because of the crowd and everything. So we will see. We must be better with the ball, better decisions.
"So you can score the goal. We showed already this season. So we will see.
"But maybe I think it's a pressure on the end of the day. It's pressure. It's all the pressure on them.
"This is a job we have done, but it's 0-0. We will see. Whoever scores more goals, he will be successful. Very simple."
"I thought it was quite a cagey first half," said Jakirovic's opposite number Alex Neil. "I thought we'd get the better of the first half. I thought the ball stuck when I went up to Josh Coburn.
"And I thought in the second half we had Cammy, where he's hit the post. We had Femi (Azeez), where the keeper's made a really good save. And we had the goal that was disallowed, which would be interesting to see what Gavin's views on that are because I thought it was quite harsh.
"I thought all in all you could see that that should give us confidence in the next leg to go and hopefully try and win the game on Monday."
The winners play the winners of Middlesbrough v Southampton at Wembley on May 23.