For all the rigmarole over interns spying at golf courses and which team would be allowed to play here, a third party who watched on helplessly from afar will now be in the Premier League football next season. The Hull head coach, Sergej Jakirovic, had described his side as “collateral damage” in the Spygate saga that had provided the most extraordinary precursor to this Championship playoff final, forcing him to prepare for the £200m match by analysing the wrong team for more than a week. Best laid plans and all that.
Southampton’s expulsion prompted a late switch to tackling a Middlesbrough puzzle, but the Bosnian delivered a tactical masterstroke culminating in Oli McBurnie’s 95th-minute goal, which sent them back into the top flight for the first time in nine years.
Having spent most of the match contentedly weathering Middlesbrough’s considerable possession, Hull broke down the left in injury-time through substitute Yu Hirakawa. His low cross should have been held by Sol Brynn, but the Boro keeper could only fumble it straight to McBurnie, who was unable to miss from six yards out.
Victory will come as a relief to the English Football League’s legal department, given the Hull owner, Acun Ilicali, had vowed to instruct his lawyers in the event of defeat, questioning why Middlesbrough had been reinstated after they had already been knocked out. Before kick-off – “now the boys are in the stadium and they will not hear me” – he suggested they would argue that either Hull should have been declared playoff winners or seventh-placed Wrexham inserted into a semi-final against Middlesbrough. Thankfully, it is now academic.
Little over a year ago, Hull were considering life in a rather different division, avoiding relegation to League One thanks only to superior goal difference. They then began this campaign with a three-window transfer fee embargo – later reduced to two – that has left them relying solely on free agents like topscorer McBurnie when looking to strengthen.
The pre-season target, said Jakirovic, was to finish in the top 10, “but I thought that would be difficult”. To make the playoffs was widely thought fanciful. To secure Premier League football inconceivable.
For Middlesbrough, defeat was the continuation of an emotional rollercoaster, losing the playoff semi-final and final. Destined to be the answer to a quiz question in years to come, their wait for a win at Wembley goes on after six defeats from six visits. Their reunion with Southampton next season is going to make for interesting viewing.
After a buildup few will forget, it was a turgid match few will choose to remember. By the first drinks break, taken in sweltering conditions midway through the opening half, Middlesbrough had been allowed 76% possession without once testing Ivor Pandur in the Hull goal. It was a pattern that barely deviated.
Fans of Jakirovic’s side have become accustomed to a delightful form of perverse inversion in a season where Hull finished second-bottom of the Championship’s expected points table and had the fourth-worst defensive record. The ball is not something they often see much of, but that is no impediment to success.
Conversely, Middlesbrough’s problem for much of the campaign had been finding a way to use their superior possession to put the ball in the net. Over the course of their two-leg semi-final against Southampton, they took 81 touches inside the opponents’ area and attempted 40 shots for one goal.
Such was Hull’s diligence in defence – happy to allow their opponents to knock the ball in unthreatening horizontal lines – that Boro almost wholly failed to raise pulses despite their territorial advantage, not registering a shot on target. NEven the return of the Championship player of the season, Hayden Hackney, from the bench had no impact.
Despite offering little attacking threat, Hull had almost taken the lead just before half-time when McBurnie’s header came off Adilson Malanda’s back and hit the crossbar. The Scot did not waste his next opportunity at the death, sending the black and amber half of Wembley into delirium.
