Article #33863

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.