For a Few Dollars More
Two fiercely competitive bounty hunters, The Man with No Name and the calculated Colonel Douglas Mortimer, form an uneasy alliance to track down El Indio, a ruthless outlaw.

I’ll leave you to decide who I’m referring to.

The ecstasy of winning at Millwall seems an eternity ago.

When we should have been enjoying the build up to another Wembley final, we have had the anxiety of not knowing who we would be playing and when.

Trains, planes and hotel bookings all at risk of having to be cancelled or rearranged.

Thankfully, the date is unchanged, unlike our opponents.

Southampton

Found guilty of elaborately spying on opponents training sessions, inside of the 72 hour limit.

They’ve admitted to 3 charges but I expect this to increase and the FA is now stepping in to investigate the individuals involved.

For all the carnage they, and they alone, have left, Southampton FC chose to draw out this sorry episode by appealing against the penalty, claiming their German coach wasn’t aware of the rules.

It’s quite simple, cheat in what is now a cup competition and you will be thrown out.

Boro

Vindicated for pursuing Southampton’s blatant cheating.

They now have a second chance, albeit many Boro fans have said that Hull City should have been automatically promoted.

Expecting their fans to get to Wembley with just 3 or 4 days notice is going to be a tough and expensive ask.

Hull City

The forgotten club in this mess.

Qualified for the final on merit by beating Millwall. Out training and game plan focused on beating Southampton for a 3rd time this season.

We are then thrown a curve ball with just 2 training sessions left before the final, when Boro became our opponents.

The Final

And so, finally, to the football itself.

We face Middlesbrough who we beat at the Riverside 0v1 and who beat us at the MKM 1v4.

They have a huge boost in Hayden Hackney being declared fit but can they pick themselves up from the semi final defeat against the Saints (an ironic nickname now)

In Sergej we trust and his ability to adapt to different challenges will be invaluable in this situation.

It’s his first trip to Wembley and this will be the largest Hull City crowd he has seen, with circa 38,000 backing us, plus whatever corporate following we attract,

We have leaders all over the pitch, most notably in Coyle, Hughes, Egan, Crooks and McBurnie.

This will be my 3rd Championship play off final and it’s always tense.

We need our wingers on top form and for their decision making to be spot on.

If we can make the final ball count, then we have a great chance of a 3rd successive Championship play off final win.

Boro have been excellent this season but their goals dried up in the final months.

Our performance away at Millwall was superb and if we can mirror that against Boro then I expect to see us lift that trophy.

The Shootout

Perhaps the EFL could have used the finale from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, with Hull City depicted as Clint Eastwood and Southampton as Angel Eyes.

It’s going to be a hot and tense day and hopefully a superb game.

I pray that Sergej can work his magic again, to turn adversity into opportunity. If he does, then he will be up there with Phil Brown, Brown Horton and Steve Bruce.

To the Hull City fans travelling, get behind the lads, as we did against Millwall and dare to dream.