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13 min: Browne does indeed come back on. Another referee might have booked Crooks for that challenge, which wasn\u2019t the best.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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\u2019ll be coming back on.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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\u2019s not even given as a foul. Play continues, for a while, but as Browne stays down, it\u2019s eventually stopped. Browne is in some pain.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 9 min: McBurnie plays a cute reverse pass down the left for Millar, who flies into the space that\u2019s just been opened up. But his attempt to return the favour, and the ball, with a swipe of the outside of his boot, doesn\u2019t come off. Both teams have shown some attacking intent during these early exchanges. The time for nerves comes later.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 5 min: Hughes skitters down the left touchline, a dangerous-looking run. He cuts back for Giles, who swings one into the mixer. McBurnie\u2019s not there. Brynn claims.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 3 min: McGree whips a cross in from the left. Pandur gets down to smother. This is a brisk start by Boro.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 2 min: Middlesbrough<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Middlesbrough’s Callum Brittain and Hull City’s Liam Millar battle for the ball. Photograph: John Walton\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.40 EDT<\/p>\n Middlesbrough, who have never won at Wembley, get the ball rolling. Meanwhile Richard Hirst writes: \u201cDid not have any of the many dogs in this fight, but Hull\u2019s 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\u2019s camp. Are you listening Wrexham, Millwall etc etc! (But of course it would be different if Fulham could be reinstated to the FA Cup!)\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The teams are out! Hull in their tiger-like amber and black shirts, Middlesbrough<\/a> in red tracksuit tops. Tracksuit tops! It\u2019s 30 degrees! They\u2019ll be knackered before the anthem is sung and signed. Suited-up EFL chairman Rick Parry is sweating too, but then he doesn\u2019t have to run about for up to 120 minutes, and can now make a bolt for the shade. Anyway, we\u2019ll be off in a couple of minutes.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>EFL confident result will stand<\/p>\n EFL chairman Rick Parry has responded to Hull owner Acun Il\u0131cal\u0131\u2019s threat to take legal action should his club not make it to the promised land this afternoon. Asked by Talksport if he believed today\u2019s result will stand regardless, he said:<\/p>\n double quotation markI 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n If you had to unravel the whole of the previous season\u2019s league table, you would never get a competition finished, so that is always a guiding principle: punishments happen forwards, not backwards.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Pre-match postbag: Courtroom Chat edition. \u201cI 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\u2019re defeated. Second, because I don\u2019t think Hull have a case\u201d \u2013 Daniel King<\/p>\n \u201cHull announcing they will take legal action if they don\u2019t 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\u201d \u2013 John Davis<\/p>\n Tigers fans get in the mood at a swealtering Wembley Stadium. Photograph: Kieran McManus\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.16 EDT<\/p>\n Boro boss Kim Hellberg speaks to Sky. \u201cIt\u2019s been crazy \u2026 back and forth a lot of times \u2026 I am proud \u2026 ready \u2026 I\u2019m really looking forward to going out there and play \u2026 [Hayden Hackney] trained not enough to be ready to start \u2026 it\u2019s hot \u2026 using him later in the game can even out the physical thing \u2026 we know he is the best player in the league \u2026 he is ready to come in and we\u2019re going to use him \u2026 we have had two very good days \u2026 a weird situation \u2026 a lot of emotion \u2026 try to reload \u2026 it\u2019s been a weird time \u2026 now we are here and ready to go \u2026 it will be a good game hopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n Up The Boro! Photograph: John Walton\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.17 EDT<\/p>\n Hull manager Sergej Jakirovi\u0107 talks to Sky Sports. \u201cTuesday we had tactical training for Southampton \u2026 then Tuesday evening we changed everything \u2026 we had one tactical session for Middlesbrough<\/a> \u2026 but we faced them already two times \u2026 no matter who is the opponent in the final, it\u2019s a 50-50 game \u2026 I hope that we perform good and will be successful \u2026 we will try to get to the Prem \u2026 we are the best in transition in this league \u2026 Middlesbrough have a very good structure \u2026 it\u2019s very hot \u2026 it\u2019s very important that we can get possession \u2026 not just that we are running \u2026 that will be not good for us.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the pre-match comments from Hull owner Acun Il\u0131cal\u0131: \u201c[The EFL] have opened up Pandora\u2019s box \u2026 [legal action] is a question for Mr Chairman \u2026 my job is to prepare the team.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Hull on the other hand have fond memories of this process. They\u2019ve 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 Diam\u00e9 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?)<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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\u2019ve had little luck in the playoffs. They\u2019ve been defeated in the semi-finals in 1991, 2018 and 2023, and lost a final to Norwich City in 2015.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>The teams<\/p>\n Hull City: Pandur, Coyle, Egan, Ajayi, Hughes, Giles, Slater, Crooks, Belloumi, Millar, McBurnie. Middlesbrough: Brynn, Brittain, Targett, Fry, McGree, Whittaker, Ayling, Strelec, Browne, Morris, Malanda. Referee: Jared Gillett.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.19 EDT<\/p>\n Good luck with the headline on Louise Taylor\u2019s preview piece, then. Godspeed every single person involved.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Hull to take legal action if they lose<\/p>\n \u2026 so that line in the preamble about the lawyers was said more in hope than expectation. Right on cue, Hull City<\/a> 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\u2019s what he said:<\/p>\n double quotation markOur legal team says that we have to go for action, that\u2019s for sure \u2026 so we have no doubt about it \u2026 all we want is justice \u2026 if justice is broken, nobody will enjoy football.<\/p>\n If this action was so big that a team is out of the play-offs, why didn\u2019t they let them not play the semi-final, investigate and take Southampton out and put Wrexham in?<\/p>\n 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\u2019s their opinion too – is an incredibly wrong decision.<\/p>\n Now I can talk a little more because now the boys are in the stadium and they will not hear me \u2026 I didn\u2019t want to make their focus disturbed.<\/p>\n Decisions are discussable from what I understand from our lawyers, very discussable \u2026 but of course we have to focus on the game and the boys are tough enough to overcome these difficulties.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.18 EDT<\/p>\n Preamble<\/p>\n 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<\/a> both managed only three. But Millwall didn\u2019t really show up for the play-off semi-finals, while as for Southampton \u2026 oh Tonda.<\/p>\n So in the end it\u2019s sixth versus fifth for a place in next season\u2019s Premier League. And it\u2019s not as though Hull and Middlesbrough aren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s on!<\/p>\n
Subs: Phillips, Lundstram, Hirakawa, Drameh, Hadziahmetovic, Gelhardt, Dowell, Koumas, McNair.<\/p>\n
Subs: Wildsmith, Hackney, Gilbert, Silvera, Castledine, Edmundson, Hansen, Ibeh, Sarmiento.<\/p>\n