The Lions’ hopes of finishing second were quickly vanquished by Ipswich’s rapid start in their win against QPR, which ensured it would be they who went up alongside Coventry.

Rather than feel sorry for themselves, Millwall went into the Sky Bet Championship play-offs off the back of a good performance, embellished by two goals from Femi Azeez against their already relegated opponents.

It is the first time since 2002 the club have reached the second-tier play-offs, with Hull standing in their way in the semi-finals as they chase a return to the top flight for the first time since 1990.

Neil said: “It’s been a brilliant season, the lads have been absolutely first class.

“I thought we won the game comfortably today – the only bit I will probably look at it we probably should have scored more goals.

“It would have been nice if we did that, but another clean sheet, another three points, that’s 83 points, 24 wins, so it’s been brilliant.

“I’m not going to lie; there’s always disappointment when you’ve got a bigger prize in front of you.

“Every team can do it across the season, but there will be, ‘could we have won this game, could we have stopped that chance, could we have took that opportunity?’

“But I don’t think it’s a healthy way to think and a healthy way to go about things, and we try our best not to do that, but what we can focus on is what we did to win the game, and we won it quite comfortably.”

Millwall led after 34 minutes when a sweeping move involving Camiel Neghli and Mihailo Ivanovic led to Azeez rifling a shot into the roof of the net.

Azeez then saw a cross drift over everyone and hit a post before half-time, but he had his second three minutes into the second half when he tapped in Zak Sturge’s ball across goal.

Some magical wing play by Azeez leading to Neghli being denied by Oxford goalkeeper Jamie Cumming, who also saved well from Ryan Leonard’s volley.

The closest the visitors came to scoring on their Championship swansong was when Mark Harris had a header clawed away by Millwall keeper Anthony Patterson.

U’s boss Matt Bloomfield said: “I thought Millwall were excellent on the day, which was no surprise given the circumstances and atmosphere.

“I think they showed every element of the team and the performance of why they had a chance of getting into the Premier League today.

“I thought they were fantastic; they had legs, they had energy, they played forward with purpose, so I think we were beaten by a better team. It wasn’t through lack of effort.

“They boys have given us everything over the last four months, but unfortunately for us we’ve come up short.

“We actually had a very good chance early on and I thought we started the game alright, if I’m honest.

“Our intensity just dropped off a little bit and Millwall stepped on.

“It was always going to be tough today against a team with so much to play for and with such an incredible atmosphere inside the ground.”