Even before last week, I couldn’t see a good outcome from our visit to Millwall. Going there to confirm relegation would have been bad enough, but surviving would mean celebrating in the jaws of the rabid Millwall mob. Even with relegation already confirmed, it was hard to know if Millwall winning promotion or falling short would have been a better outcome. They say you should face triumph and adversity in the same way, at Millwall, that can often mean with a riot and a flick knife.

Whether imagined or real, I didn’t need the hassle so I stayed at home and looked forward to a pressure-free end to the season. With Millwall and Ipswich fighting it out for promotion it was nice to still be part of the conversation one last time before we take our leave for League One. 

The Sky hype machine was in full gear in the run up to kick-off. Like a hyperactive child with access to an espresso machine; they jumped from The Den to Portman Road while Neil Warnock banterised the conversation back in the studio like your grandad giving his verdict on your sister’s new boyfriend; ‘Nice lad, good family, terrible hair’.

Despite the coverage, we were barely mentioned. I didn’t expect a lot of billing, but equally, I didn’t expect us to be completely ignored. It was like going to see Hulk Hogan and supporting the nameless chubby trucker from Arkansas he was throwing around the ring for half-an-hour.

I get it, but it is a bit odd. If we’re an irrelevance, then the outcomes of both games are inevitable and the whole narrative falls apart. In fact, if TV wanted last day drama, then one of us needed to win.

With the bubble of anticipation pumped to breaking point, it took two minutes to pop as Ipswich opened the scoring. Seven minutes later it evaporated completely when they added a second.

The main stories resolved before the end of the opening chapter; Sky needed a new angle. We were absorbing pressure, but nothing we haven’t seen before. In a division which has been very Championship-ey with lots of solid, competent sides, Millwall have probably been the most solid and competent. If Coventry’s story represents an achievable aspiration for us, Millwall’s is a good interim milestone to target. But, equally, the gaps between top and bottom aren’t that great and with a bit of luck, we could have ground out a draw.

The commentators workshopped the idea that Millwall needed to concentrate on themselves and be in good spirits for their play-off campaign. Then Mills crossed for Lankshear who was stretching but should have scored.

The chance offered the pivot; Millwall shouldn’t under-estimated us. After-all, they said, we put four past Sheffield Wednesday last week. There was a pause as they considered the plot hole. Wednesday are still, by some distance, the worst side in the division, beating them wasn’t that big an indicator of the threat we offer. The struggle to find coherence was like watching an articulated lorry trying to three-point turn in a primary school playground.

The gift that helped them out was Yunus Konak rolling his ankle. In the main, the idea of being ‘on the beach’ is over-stated, even with little to play for, players are drilled to play and naturally competitive, few are likely to accept being ritually humiliated in front of 20,000 people. But there are boundaries and risking Konak was unnecessary given the situation. The switch with a half-fit Cameron Brannagan tipped the game from being vaguely competitive to one which was little more than an exhibition.

It took ten minutes to have an effect, Camiel Neghli broke down the left, worked the ball into Mihailo Ivanović who switched it to Femi Azeez. Brannagan tracked back gallantly, but that’s not his game anymore and Azeez blasted the ball into the roof of the net.

I was still making a half-time snack when Azeez made it two. Barry Bannan threading the ball to Thierno Ballo who crossed for Azeez for number two. Brannagan is at an interesting point in his career. He turns thirty next week and has recently become a father, he’s not young and dynamic anymore. He has responsibilities on and off the pitch, the precociousness of his youth has gone. He still has the technical ability and presence that he needs to capitalise on. Bannan’s ability to stand still and dictate play is something for him to study.

The second goal pretty much represented our exit from the Championship. We were there in body, but not in mind. Sky salivated over the upcoming play-offs as Millwall battered our lifeless corpse.

As humans we’re trained to look for patterns to make sense of the world and protect us from predators. Some felt we should have had more of a presence in the game and that our lack of fight was a sign of concern, but the reality is none of it meant anything, it never did. If we had more resting on the game, or they had less, then perhaps the outcome would have been different. But it didn’t and it wasn’t. 

Whether this represents the end of an era remains to be seen, in 1993/4 we were relegated with a team that would become the bedrock of the promotion side of 1995/6. Relegation then was a blip in a wider story. But that was thirty years ago and things change; loans return to their clubs, finances need reigning in, the transition from Championship to League One is not as smooth as it was, adjustments will be needed.

Leicester and Sheffield Wednesday will be looking to recover; Plymouth and Luton have taken time to adjust from their own relegation but will be more prepared next season. Bolton, Huddersfield and Reading all have potential and Stockport and Stevenage are well run clubs who will always carry a threat. In its own way, League One is as difficult as the Championship.

The switch from relegation strugglers to promotion contenders is bigger than many realise. You can catch a vibe early and ride the wave to an immediate promotion, but many find they need to search the darkness of their soul before they coming up with an answer. Not many managers survive the transition, but Matt Bloomfield will be under no illusions.

Equally, there’s much we can take from the Championship experience. The Kassam can be a fun place to watch football, we have connections across football here and abroad which we may not have had, there will be players who will want to join a serious promotion contender who might otherwise overlook us and we know we can break the glass ceiling of League One and not be intimidated by what comes next. 

Forget yesterday, we were just a bit part in a wider cinematic universe, from Josh Murphy’s deflected opener at Wembley to Will Lankshear’s 25-yard haymaker against Sheffield Wednesday, the last two years have been a ride.