This was a game that I wasn’t expecting to happen. I thought that it should, without a doubt, as the only real sanction for cheating in a knockout scenario has to be that the cheating club is disqualified and the other side progresses. Nobody questions expulsion if, say, a team fields an ineligible player, even if it is only for a few seconds. What’s the difference? Other than this was the more serious breach by pre-meditated rule-breaking rather than an unfortunate administrative oversight?
Nevertheless, something being the right course of action is no guarantee that it will happen. We saw West Ham spared a relegation-triggering points deduction a few years ago over fielding Tevez and his mate as it was deemed unfair to their fans. With Southampton having sold their allocation of tickets and with such a short time between the hearing and the final, I expected similar weasel words.
But no. The Disciplinary Committee came up trumps and then held their nerve in the appeal three days before the game. With such short notice and a need to get Tom, Harry and Amelia there, I decided just to drive there and back in the day. It was easy enough, despite an aircon failure that meant we had to travel some of the way with all four windows down. We paid nine quid to park on someone’s drive near Canon Park tube, although with no street restrictions in place, we could just have easily left the car on the road outside of their house for free.
The tube journey in and the walk down Wembley Way was all friendly enough. There’s no real rivalry between the Boro and Hull and, if we weren’t to prevail, most Boro fans would be happy to see former players Matt Crooks, Paddy McNair and Ryan Giles make the Premier League.
We spent an hour or so in the Fanzone outside in the sunshine before making our way around to the Boro end of the ground. Whilst we were all in the lower tier, I hadn’t been able to get all four seats together. I took the one further towards the centre, whilst the other three were slightly higher up in the corner. It was an impressive turnout. All thirty-six thousand tickets in our allocation sold in the two days available.
The performance on the pitch wasn’t quite as impressive. We dominated in terms of territory and possession, but as so often happens we failed to take our chances. Or rather we failed to create many chances. On a day when the heat slowed the tempo down to walking pace, a single goal was always likely to be sufficient. Unfortunately, it went to Hull late in added time.
Despite the disappointment, it has been an enjoyable season, with some of the best football I’ve seen us play. I’m hoping that Hellberg can get the players in that suit the way he wants to set the team up and give it another real go after the summer.
Trail of the Lion King 