Key events
61 min: Whittaker slips a ball down the middle for McGree, whose shot from the edge of the box is blocked. Hull counter, Belloumi cutting in from the right and taking a whack that flies straight at Brynn. Suddenly, a lot better from both sides.
59 min: Middlesbrough slip back into passive possession. There’s been no real rhythm to this match. No real story threatening to unfold.
57 min: Whittaker dribbles in from the right. He’s got space to advance into, but tries to buy a foul from Millar, challenging from behind. He goes over when touched, but the referee waves play on. Whittaker fumes, but it’s the correct decision. Maybe if he had his time again he’d be a bit more proactive there.
55 min: Middlesbrough ping a few passes down the right, a rare moment of quality in this match. The ball’s shuttled infield and Whittaker very nearly releases Strelec into the box. But Ajayi and Hughes crowd him out.
54 min: Hayden Hackney warms up on the touchline. Middlesbrough have been sorely lacking his quality. But when will he come on?
52 min: … and now Crooks meets a cross from the right but eyebrows it softly wide left. This is better from Hull, who did very little attacking in the first half.
51 min: Giles, out on the left touchline, nearly replicates Paul Konchesky’s fluke goal for West Ham in the 2006 FA Cup final. An overhit cross that foxes the keeper. But with Brynn back-tracking in a panic, the ball sails high and wide of the top-right corner. But only just!
50 min: Shade is now covering half of the pitch. It’s the one Middlesbrough are defending, so their back line won’t mind that at all. Hull still peering into, and standing in, the sun.
48 min: One corner leads to another, and the second one, hit long from the right, is met by Fry at the far stick. Fry slams his header over the bar from six yards out. A huge chance. He had to hit the target at the very least.
47 min: Whittaker has a whack from the edge of the Hull D. The ball deflects wide right for a corner. That’s a good defensive block by Egan, because that was heading for the bottom right.
45 min 04 sec: Hull send the ball back to Pandur, whose attempted long kick upfield is charged down by Strelec. The ball bounces well wide right of the unguarded net, but that good fortune doesn’t stop the keeper giving his team-mates a wild rollocking.
Hull get the second half started. No changes.
More half-time entertainment. It’s the German cup final this evening. Bayern Munich are favourites against Stuttgart … but here’s a reminder that the favourites do not always win.
Half-time postbag. “Hull owner Acun Ilıcalı’s threatened legal action is perverse. His club finished 10 points adrift of their play-off semi-final opponents Millwall and seven behind both Middlesbrough and the sinning Saints. That Hull are in with a chance of promotion to the Premier League demonstrates the absurdity of the Championship play-offs, which often reward stragglers like Hull with the opportunity of knocking out clubs that have had a consistently better season. Money-spinners the play-offs may be but they demolish fairness, sporting integrity, and all notions of rewarding consistency. Ilicali doth protest too much; such arrant expedience makes an ugly saga even sorrier and more grotesque” – Darryl Accone
“Remember F1 a few years ago. There was the result on the track then the result days later after all the stewards enquiries and appeals. That’s when I stopped watching it. Yes have an enquiry, yes learn from it and change some rules if necessary, but the result on the day must be what matters. Fans spend loads to attend matches and celebrate (or not) at the end” – Richard Cowling
Half-time entertainment. A wee film from Wembley of Boro fans telling it as they see it.
HALF TIME: Hull City 0-0 Middlesbrough
Pressure and heat have not produced a gem. Not yet, anyway.
45 min +3: Belloumi flings a long throw in from the Hull right. Some head tennis. Brynn claims the ball and goes long, looking for Whittaker. He finds him, and Whittaker in turn finds Strelec, who drags a poor shot wide right from the edge of the box. As big a chance as Boro have had.
45 min +2: … and there goes the second.
45 min +1: The first of three additional minutes.
45 min: Crooks whips a cross in from the left. McBurnie, tussling with Malanda, wins a header, and the ball, intended for the top-right corner, pings off the top of the bar and out for a corner. Malanda might even have got a little flick on that himself. Hull so close!
43 min: McGree curls long from the left. Pandur, under pressure from the lurking Browne, slaps the ball away from the danger zone.
42 min: Belloumi shifts his feet, 25 yards out, and aims a whippy curler towards the top left. It’s inches wide. Not entirely sure Brynn was getting to that. It would have been a beauty, and very much out of keeping with the rest of this half.
41 min: Strelec, on the edge of the Hull D, tries to flick a shot towards the bottom right. It hits his own man Whittaker.
40 min: Boro get back to passing it around sideways, and slowly. Hull are happy enough to stay in their shape and let them do it.
38 min: Belloumi plays an incisive pass down the middle of the park, and suddenly Millar is racing clear after it! But Brynn has spotted the danger, racing miles from his box to bang clear. Some action, at long last.
37 min: Ayling curls a cross in from the right. Browne can’t get anywhere near it. Goal kick.
36 min: More Boro pass-and-probe. Hull sit there in their shape.
34 min: Boro continue to stroke the ball around, to no great effect. There’s nothing opening out for them up front.
32 min: Morris rolls a defence-splitter down the middle. The pass should release Strelec, but the striker takes a heavy touch and that allows Ajayi to nip in ahead of him, shield the ball, and draw a foul.
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.
