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Key events
31 min: Both teams take turns to enjoy some sterile domination. Understandable given the heat, but the game nearly grinds to a halt as a result.
29 min: Browne chases after a long ball down the inside-right channel. Pandur gets to it first. If nothing else, that pounding run proves Browne’s foot is in good nick after that Crooks challenge.
27 min: The players have taken on water, and cooled their brows with wet towels. And now play begins again.
26 min: Drinks break!
25 min: … Giles receives the ball 25 yards out, leans back, and hoicks a dismal effort 25 yards over the bar and 25 yards wide right. No Dean Windass / Mohamed Diamé he.
24 min: … and up the other end, Brynn is forced into action as Millar crosses long from the left. Coyle aims a looping header towards the top right, and the Boro keeper is forced to tip over for a corner. From which …
23 min: Brittain blooters long down the inside-right channel. The ball drops in the path of Strelec. A better touch to bring it down and the striker’s in … but that doesn’t happen. Boro are asking all the questions, but Pandur hasn’t had a shot to save yet.
21 min: Whittaker wedges a pass down the left for McGree to chase. Ajayi gets in the way and takes control. McGree tries to steal the ball, but Ajayi holds him off regally, and eventually McGree, still striving, pokes the ball out for a goal kick. That was an entertaining physical tussle.
19 min: When the corner’s eventually taken, the ball’s worked right to left, and Browne dinks a cross into the centre. Strelec heads harmlessly over the bar.
17 min: Middlesbrough move up a gear or twi. They pin Hull back. Targett crosses from the left but can’t find Strelec in the middle. Morris then wins a corner out on the right. Boro do not rush to take it in the heat.
Alan Browne. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA
15 min: Morris wins the ball 30 yards out, and drags a weak shot wide left. He claims the first corner of the match, but the referee says there was no deflection.
14 min: Whittaker causes quite a bit of bother down the left, nearly one-twoing his way into the box. He looks lively.
13 min: Browne does indeed come back on. Another referee might have booked Crooks for that challenge, which wasn’t the best.
12 min: On comes the physio. Browne eventually gets up, tests his foot by putting some weight on it, and wanders to the touchline. He’ll be coming back on.
11 min: Browne and Crooks compete for a loose ball in the midfield. Browne gets there first. Crooks stands on his foot, with some force. It’s not even given as a foul. Play continues, for a while, but as Browne stays down, it’s eventually stopped. Browne is in some pain.
9 min: McBurnie plays a cute reverse pass down the left for Millar, who flies into the space that’s just been opened up. But his attempt to return the favour, and the ball, with a swipe of the outside of his boot, doesn’t come off. Both teams have shown some attacking intent during these early exchanges. The time for nerves comes later.
7 min: Targett creams a long pass down the left and nearly finds Whittaker on the edge of the Hull box. But Pandur has read the danger and comes to meet the ball. Sharp play all round.
5 min: Hughes skitters down the left touchline, a dangerous-looking run. He cuts back for Giles, who swings one into the mixer. McBurnie’s not there. Brynn claims.
3 min: McGree whips a cross in from the left. Pandur gets down to smother. This is a brisk start by Boro.
2 min: Middlesbrough are immediately on the front foot, Whittaker probing with a dribble right to left. Hull sit back. A pattern may have already been established: Boro are number one in the Championship possession stats, with Hull, who prefer to counter, down at 19th.
Middlesbrough, who have never won at Wembley, get the ball rolling. Meanwhile Richard Hirst writes: “Did not have any of the many dogs in this fight, but Hull’s lack of class in saying they will take legal action, rather than accepting that the EFL have done their best in difficult circumstances, means I am now definitely in Boro’s camp. Are you listening Wrexham, Millwall etc etc! (But of course it would be different if Fulham could be reinstated to the FA Cup!)”
The teams are out! Hull in their tiger-like amber and black shirts, Middlesbrough in red tracksuit tops. Tracksuit tops! It’s 30 degrees! They’ll be knackered before the anthem is sung and signed. Suited-up EFL chairman Rick Parry is sweating too, but then he doesn’t have to run about for up to 120 minutes, and can now make a bolt for the shade. Anyway, we’ll be off in a couple of minutes.
EFL confident result will stand
EFL chairman Rick Parry has responded to Hull owner Acun Ilıcalı’s threat to take legal action should his club not make it to the promised land this afternoon. Asked by Talksport if he believed today’s result will stand regardless, he said:
I hope so, yes of course. We have to move on. The season has to finish. Players are going off to the World Cup on Monday.
We all need clarity now and we all need certainty and what we have a habit of doing in football, all the precedents say that however frustrating it can be at times, you tend to look at punishments prospectively.
If you had to unravel the whole of the previous season’s league table, you would never get a competition finished, so that is always a guiding principle: punishments happen forwards, not backwards.
Pre-match postbag: Courtroom Chat edition. “I worry about Hull stating before the final that they will take legal action if they lose. Firstly, because it might take away from their motivation and determination if they think they could still go up even if they’re defeated. Second, because I don’t think Hull have a case” – Daniel King
“Hull announcing they will take legal action if they don’t go up today is confirmation that this whole sorry mess is just going to roll on. Surely the best way out of the situation is for the appropriate authorities to announce tonight that both teams are promoted and four go down from the Premier League. That should keep everyone happy” – John Davis
Boro boss Kim Hellberg speaks to Sky. “It’s been crazy … back and forth a lot of times … I am proud … ready … I’m really looking forward to going out there and play … [Hayden Hackney] trained not enough to be ready to start … it’s hot … using him later in the game can even out the physical thing … we know he is the best player in the league … he is ready to come in and we’re going to use him … we have had two very good days … a weird situation … a lot of emotion … try to reload … it’s been a weird time … now we are here and ready to go … it will be a good game hopefully.”
Hull manager Sergej Jakirović talks to Sky Sports. “Tuesday we had tactical training for Southampton … then Tuesday evening we changed everything … we had one tactical session for Middlesbrough … but we faced them already two times … no matter who is the opponent in the final, it’s a 50-50 game … I hope that we perform good and will be successful … we will try to get to the Prem … we are the best in transition in this league … Middlesbrough have a very good structure … it’s very hot … it’s very important that we can get possession … not just that we are running … that will be not good for us.”
As for the pre-match comments from Hull owner Acun Ilıcalı: “[The EFL] have opened up Pandora’s box … [legal action] is a question for Mr Chairman … my job is to prepare the team.”
Hull on the other hand have fond memories of this process. They’ve been through it twice, and emerged as winners on both occasions, scoring pearlers in the final in the process. Dean Windass saw off Bristol City in 2008 with a long-range howitzer, while Mohamed Diamé found the top bin with a curler to beat Sheffield Wednesday in 2016. (As a brief aside, does anyone know what happened to the dude who wrote the MBM for the 2008 final?)
Middlesbrough won the second-ever of these playoffs in 1988, beating Chelsea in a two-legged final. In doing so, they inadvertently turned Stamford Bridge into a war zone. But since then they’ve had little luck in the playoffs. They’ve been defeated in the semi-finals in 1991, 2018 and 2023, and lost a final to Norwich City in 2015.
Hull make one change to the starting XI selected for the semi-final second-leg win at Millwall. Kyle Joseph is injured so in comes Mohamed Belloumi.
Middlesbrough also make one change, following their tempestuous game at Southampton. Alan Browne replaces the stricken Tommy Conway. Hayden Hackney is on the bench, hoping to make his first appearance since picking up a calf injury in March.
The teams
Hull City: Pandur, Coyle, Egan, Ajayi, Hughes, Giles, Slater, Crooks, Belloumi, Millar, McBurnie.
Subs: Phillips, Lundstram, Hirakawa, Drameh, Hadziahmetovic, Gelhardt, Dowell, Koumas, McNair.
Middlesbrough: Brynn, Brittain, Targett, Fry, McGree, Whittaker, Ayling, Strelec, Browne, Morris, Malanda.
Subs: Wildsmith, Hackney, Gilbert, Silvera, Castledine, Edmundson, Hansen, Ibeh, Sarmiento.
Referee: Jared Gillett.
Good luck with the headline on Louise Taylor’s preview piece, then. Godspeed every single person involved.
Hull to take legal action if they lose
… so that line in the preamble about the lawyers was said more in hope than expectation. Right on cue, Hull City owner Acun Ilicali has been on BBC Radio Humberside to announce his intention to take legal action if his side fail to win promotion this afternoon. Here’s what he said:
Our legal team says that we have to go for action, that’s for sure … so we have no doubt about it … all we want is justice … if justice is broken, nobody will enjoy football.
If this action was so big that a team is out of the play-offs, why didn’t they let them not play the semi-final, investigate and take Southampton out and put Wrexham in?
Why is Wrexham out now? Put Wrexham in and continue the competition. For me, an eliminated team put back – also our lawyers say this and that’s their opinion too – is an incredibly wrong decision.
Now I can talk a little more because now the boys are in the stadium and they will not hear me … I didn’t want to make their focus disturbed.
Decisions are discussable from what I understand from our lawyers, very discussable … but of course we have to focus on the game and the boys are tough enough to overcome these difficulties.
Preamble
In one of the infinite number of parallel universes that definitely exist, this match will be contested by Millwall and Southampton. They were the two in-form teams during the Championship run-in, after all, respectively winning five and eight of their last ten matches, while Hull and Middlesbrough both managed only three. But Millwall didn’t really show up for the play-off semi-finals, while as for Southampton … oh Tonda.
So in the end it’s sixth versus fifth for a place in next season’s Premier League. And it’s not as though Hull and Middlesbrough aren’t worthy of a place at Wembley. Boro looked good for automatic promotion for large portions of the season, and despite that aforementioned stumbling end to the campaign, still finished a mere five points off achieving that goal. Hull meanwhile, having avoided relegation to League One last year by the skin of their teeth, have turned things around admirably and timed their run almost perfectly.
Boro beat the Tigers 4-1 on Humberside at the start of December; Hull won 1-0 on Teesside at the end of it. Good luck to anyone attempting a confident prediction this afternoon, then. May the best team on grass win, and we politely request any lawyers circling, ready to swoop and offer whoever is defeated the succour and hope of litigation, to bugger off. Kick-off is at 3.30pm BST. It’s on!
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