So that's that, then ...
Derby started reasonably well and were certainly dominating when Abel Hernandez scored for Hull City against the run of play. With half-time approaching and Derby on the ropes, Hull were rather fortuitous to go two up to a freakish own goal, the ball taking two deflections on its way past the helpless Scott Carson. At the scrag end of an extremely scrappy second half in which Derby offered nothing, Hull scored their third courtesy of Andrew Robertson to take a 3-0 lead back to the KC Stadium next Tuesday.
More on that Robertson goal: Tom Ince took a corner for Derby, which failed to clear the first defender. Derby County lost every battle as Hull broke out of their own penalty area in droves. The ball was played to Robertson on the edge of the box and with defenders being pulled out of position by decoy runners, he picked his spot and drove the ball past Caron from the edge of the penalty area. It was a fine finish which has almost certainly put this play-off semi-final beyond Derby.
Full time: Derby County 0-3 Hull City
It’s all over! Boos ring out around the iPro stadium as Hull City celebrate a fine win over opposition who were little short of abject this afternoon. It’s half-time in the tie, but the jig is almost certainly up for Derby County. They must travel to the KC Stadium on Tuesday in an attempt to overcome a three-goal deficit. It’s never been done before in the play-offs and if they perform like they did today, they’ll get another hiding.
GOAL! Derby County 0-3 Hull City (Robertson 90)
From that pathetic effort at a corner, Hull break down the field in numbers. The ball finds its way to Robertson who fires into the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area. Woeful stuff from Derby, but a fine counter-attacking goal from Hull City.
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90+6 min: Derby win a corner and Paul Ince fails to clear the first man.
90+4 min: Jakupovic and Odubajo are both fit to continue after a lengthy spell receiving treatment. Hull substitution: Alex Bruce on for Mo Diame. Derby substitution I didn’t notice earlier: Sam Clucas on for Robert Snodgrass.
90+2 min: Eldin Jakupovic goes down holding his face and looking badly hurt after a heavy collision with his own right-back Moses Odubajo. The pair collided as they scrambled to clear a loose ball in the penalty area. Darren Bent, recently on for Will Hughes, had headed the ball into the path of Tom Ince and goalkeeper and defender collided as they attempted to prevent him scoring.
90 +1 min: Arsenal have just taken the lead against Chelsea in the women’s FA Cup final with a splendid goal. Follow the action here ...
90 min: Ahmed Elmohamedy shoots into the side netting from a very tight angle after taking the ball past Scott Carson.
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88 min: A chorus of “We are going up!” strikes up in the stands. I’m guessing that’s from the away end. Derby will be dreadfully disappointed with their showing today - they’ve failed to do themselves any sort of justice.
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85 min: Derby win a free-kick wide on the left, which Paul Ince sends into the mixer. It’s headed clear by Curtis Davies.
84 min: Hull City substitution: Hernandez off, Chuba Akpom on. Hernandez gets a big bear-hug from Steve Bruce as he leaves the field.
82 min: Tom Ince advances on the Hull City penalty area and unleashes a low diagonal drive. It’s going well wide of the far post, but Jakupovic dives to put it out for a corner anyway.
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80 min: This second half has been remarkably moribund and scrappy. I haven’t seen much of Derby County this season, but they’re surely better than this. After a promising opening 20 minutes, their players have really retreated into their shells since Hull City opened the scoring. There’s no sense of urgency about them at all.
78 min: Derby go forward, attacking down the right wing. Christie plays a cross-field pass towards Paul Ince, who is hunted down by Odubajo.
77 min: There’s a pause a play as Bryson receives treatment after receiving an accidental arm in the face from Snodgrass. Bryson gets patched up and is now sporting a black bandage around his head. That’s an interesting deaprture in the field of field dressings.
76 min: Derby swing the free-kick into the Hull penalty area, where Martin gets the flick-on and Christie heads over at the far post. That was a half-decent chance.
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74 min: Moses Odubajo gets a long overdue yellow card for time-wasting on a throw-in and is lucky to avoid getting a second one soon after for a blatant trip on ... I think, Tom Ince. Poor refereeing from Neil Swarbrick, who has bottled a big decision there. Hull should be down to 10 men.
70 min: Derby County substitution: Nick Blackman on for Johnny Russell. Moments before the change, Eldin Jakupovic was pressed into action for the first time in the Hull City goal, coming off his line to leap and paw away a cross from Cyrus Christie. The ball dropped for Craig Bryson, who fired well wide.
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68 min: Odubajo and Huddlestone attempt to combine down the right for Hull City, but a misplaced pass gifts a throw-in to Derby County. This is dreadful football fare, which Hull City fans will happily sit through for the remaining 20 minutes or so.
67 min: Hull clear the ensuing inswinger and win a throw-in in Derby territory which Moses Odubajo takes.
65 min: Derby win a corner after good work down the right from Chris Martin. A corner!
64 min: Livermore is fouled by Hughes on the edge of his own penalty area, earning Hull an opportunity to clear their lines. This is very, very scrappy ... which will suit Hull just fine.
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63 min: Livermore and Snodgrass take a short corner for reasons best known to themselves. Will Hughes wins the ball back for Derby.
61 min: Robert Snodgrass shoots for goal, but his effort is headed out for a corner by Shackell. The goalkeeper had that covered, but didn’t appear to call for it.
60 min: We approach the hour mark, with Derby County two goals down, without a shot on goal and struggling to create anything in the way of a scoring opportunity. Shackell is penalised for a foul on Abel Hernandez after scything through the back of the Hull striker. Free-kick for Hull City, about 35 yards from the Derby goal.
59 min: Derby substitution: Bradley Johnson off, Jacob Butterfield on.
58 min: Hull City must be loving this - Derby are playing at a very slow tempo, which makes it easy for them to soak up the pressure and hopefully grab a potential tie-killer on the break.
56 min: Snodgrass picks out Hernandez between the lines, but the Hull striker is crowded off the ball.
55 min: Andrew Robertson gallops down the wing after poking the ball ahead of him and attempts to get in a cross. Richard Keogh appears to put the ball out for a corner, but none is forthcoming. Replays show that Keogh didn’t actually touch the ball, which was put out by Robertson. Good decision.
53 min: Snodgrass attempts to latch on to a Livermore ball in behind the Derby defence, but it bounces unkindly for him and he’s forced wide. Tom Ince takes advantage of a break in play to change his boots.
50 min: Derby enjoy a period of sustained possession but do nothing with it. Hull City’s reserve goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic has yet to be tested in this game, which is a fairly damning indictment on the home side’s attacking prowess. On Sky Sports, co-comms man Don Goodman stresses the need for Derby County to “up the tempo”.
49 min: Bradley Johnson is penalised for a foul on Moses Odubajo halfway inside the Hull City half.
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48 min: Good work from Diame, who holds the ball up well in the corner, before winning a corner off Will Hughes. Robert Snodgrass swings the ball into the penalty area, where Curtis Davies out-jumps Richard Keogh and sends a thumping header over the bar.
47 min: Derby win a throw-in halfway inside the Hull City half, play it backwards and attempt to build from the back. Tom Ince loses possession to Mo Diame in the corner and Hull move forward.
Derby County v Hull City - second half is go ...
46 min: Derby get the second half started with no changes in personnel on either side. They’re two goals down at home and in deep, deep trouble. They lost their composure towards the end of the first half, but a goal will see them right back in this tie.
Half-time: Derby County 0-2 Hull City
Half-time: Neil Swarbrick blows for the interval and Derby’s shell-shocked players troop off looking down the barrel of a hideous home defeat. They dominated before Hull opened the scoring courtesy of Abel Hernandez. With Hull on top and threatening to double their lead, the second goal duly came courtesy of a double-deflection that cannoned into the net off the back of Jason Shackell. Stat time: no teasm has ever qualified for the final of the play-offs after going into the second leg of their semi-final with a deficit of two goals or more.
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45+3 min: Robert Snodgrass attempts to play Abel Hernandez through on goal with a neat through-ball, but in his attempts to stay onside, the Hull City striker allows Derby County’s defenders to regroup.
45 min: We’re into time added on at the end of a first half Derby County will be eager to forget. Jake Livermore gets booked for a nasty challenge on Richard Keogh.
42 min: An absolute sickener for Derby County, who find themselves two goals down after an extremely lucky goal for Hull City. Moses Odubajo shot speculatively from the edge of the penalty area, the ball took a deflection off Marcus Olsson, before taking another even more horrible deflection off the back of Jason Shackell and finding it’s way into past a hopelessly wrong-footed Scott Carson. You can’t really legislate for misfortune like that.
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GOAL! Derby County 0-2 Hull City (Shackell og 40)
Just call me Mystic Baz, eh? Hull City double their lead courtesy of a complete fluke!
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39 min: Having been in the ascendency until Hull opened the scoring, Derby look really rattled and in grave danger of conceding a second goal. Half-time can’t come quickly enough for them. They’ll do well to get back to the dressing room without conceding a second.
38 min: Mo Diame drifts into space on the edge of the Derby County penalty area, picks up an Andrew Robertson through ball and sends a diagonal effort trundling across the face of goal and this wide of the far post. That was a great chance to pile the hurt on Derby.
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36 min: Moses Odubajo goes rampaging run down the right wing and rides a tackle from Marcus Olsson (who is already on a yellow card) and continues his gallop. He takes one touch too many, which allows Tom Ince to relieve him of possession. Brilliant covering by Ince. I suspect if Odubajo had gone down under that Olsson tackle, Derby County might have found themselves down to 10 men.
35 min: Michael Dawson is penalised for wrestling Chris Martin to the ground and then booked for kicking the ball away in an act of petulance.
31 min: It’s been a scrappy game, but Hull strike first just as Derby were beginning to assert their authority. It came from nothing - a big kick-out from Eldin Jakupovic and Ahmed Elmohamedy got in front of Jason Shackell to flick the ball into the path of Hernandez who shot low and hard from the edge of the area. His drive fizzed into the bottom right-hand corner, with Scott Carson showing all the mobility of an oak tree in his efforts to get to it. That was a very, very soft goal for Derby County to concede.
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GOAL! Derby County 0-1 Hull City (Hernandez 30)
30 min: From distance, Abel Hernandez fires just inside the right upright to give Hull the lead.
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27 min: Marcus Olsson gets the first yellow card of the game for a late challenge on Moses Odubajo. Free-kick for Hull City, down by the corner. Snodgrass whips the ball across the edge of the six-yard box, where Abel Hernandez skims a header wide.
25 min: Cyrus Christie is penalised for a meaty challenge on Robert Snodgrass, wide on the left. Again, the free-kick is floated into the penalty area, where Scott Carson claims easily.
23 min: Derby are starting to dominate proceedings here. At the end of nice passage of passing play, Martin Olsson picks out Martin on the edge of the penalty area, but the striker volleys high and wide.
22 min: Hull City win a free-kick over near the technical areas, for a Keogh foul on Jake Livermore. The ball is curled long into the Derby penalty area, where Scott Carson is out off his line to pluck it from the sky.
21 min: From the edge of the penalty area, Craig Bryson plays the ball wide to Tom Ince on the right flank, but the young winger is crowded off the ball.
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20 min: Derby win a couple of corners in quick succession, but nothing comes from either. Cyrus Christie skips down the right wing and sends in a nice cross, but Michael Dawson clears the danger for Hull City.
18 min: A chorus of “You fat bastard!” breaks out in the stands as Steve Bruce goes berserk with the linesman as a throw-in he feels should have gone to his team is awarded to Derby. Harsh. The song, that is, not the decision ... although he is carrying a fair bit of timber.
15 min: Michael Dawson wins an important header to prevent Chris Martin getting his head to a decent cross from Johnny Russell, who’d cut in from the right flank to send in a decent cross. Moments previously, Hull had a half-chance, when an Ahmed Elmohamedy cross took a big deflection, looped up in the air and had to be cleared by Richard Keogh. Tom Huddlestone subsequently shot from the edge of the area, but his weak shot went well wide.
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14 min: Another long ball from Jakupovic earns his side a throw-in deep in Derby territory when Marcus Olsson puts the ball out of play.
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13 min: With the ball at his feet, Hull goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic looks to hoof it long and ends up sending it straight out of play for a Derby County throw-in.
11 min: Johnny Russell takes advantage from a Tom Huddlestone slip to take the ball to the edge of the Hull City penalty area. He attempts to pick out Chris Martin with a ball across the penalty area, but the Derby County striker hadn’t made the run his team-mate was anticipating.
9 min: Scrappy stuff so far, with neither side able to stamp any sort of authority on a game that looks like it might be fairly open if somebody can get their foot on the ball and start dictating the play.
8 min: Abel Hernandez swings his left foot to connect with a breaking ball on the edge of the Derby penalty area. His slash is a bit wild and the ball fizzes high and wide of Scott Carson’s goal.
7 min: Johnson gets treatment, but looks fit to continue. He walks to the touchline swigging from a water bottle and is promptly invited to rejoin the action by Swarbrick.
6 min: Bradley Johnson goes down with a head injury after a clash of heads with his team-mate Jason Shackell as the pair contested the same high ball. Referee Neil Swarbrick stops play and summons the medics.
4 min: Johnny Russell canters down the left flank for Derrby County with the ball at his feet, but his attempted cross is blocked. Moments later, he trips over his own feet as he attempted to make his way into the Hull penalty area to pick up a ball into space from Chris Martin.
3 min: A fairly scrappy start as the two teams try to find their groove in the early stages. Both goalkeepers have had a touch and the ball’s being thumped around the pitch like a live grenade.
2 min: Will Hughes gets on the ball inside his own half for the first time, but is immediately felled by Robert Snodgrass. Free-kick for Derby County, who clear their lines.
Derby County v Hull City is go!
1 min: Hull City get the ball rolling in this Championship play-off semi-final first leg, with the iPro stadium packed and in full voice. They immediately win a throw-in halfway inside the Derby County half.
Not long now ...
Led by an actual ram, the teams march out the tunnel, with both sets of players wearing their customary colours. Derby’s wear white shirts, black shorts and black socks, while Hull City’s wear amber shirts with black sleeves, amber shorts and amber socks.
Steve Bruce speaks ...
The Hull City manager explains that he was forced to bring in Eldin Jakupovic as Allan McGregor has knacked his back. The Swiss goalkeeper has played just two Championship matches this season, but has featured in nine FA and League Cup matches. You may remember him putting in a stunning man-of-the-match display against Arsenal at the Emirates earlier this season.
Some interesting pre-match reading ...
My Watford-supporting colleague answer those, including me, who think Watford’s decision to part company with Quique Sánchez Flores was a bit crazy. I have no problem with the owners of a club switching manager if they think it will lead to bigger and better things, but it’s the entitlement of some Watford fans who seem to think QSF actually deserved to lose his job that I find extraordinary. Anyway, read on ...
Team news
Bradley Johnson replaces George Thorne in the only change to the Derby County side that lost against Ipswich last weekend. Steve Bruce also makes one change to his side that beat Rotherham. Goalkeeper Allan McGregor is injured and is replaced by Eldin Jakupovic, who will be making only his 12th appearance of the season for the Tigers.
Derby County v Hull City line-ups
Derby County: Carson, Christie, Keogh, Shackell, Olsson, Bryson, Johnson, Hughes, Ince, Martin, Russell
Subs: Grant, Buxton, Hendrick, Bent, Baird, Butterfield, Blackman
Hull City: Jakupovic, Odubajo, Dawson, Davies, Robertson, Huddlestone, Livermore, Elmohamady, Snodgrass, Diame, Hernandez.
Subs: Kuciak, Bruce, Maguire, Maloney, Clucas, Aluko, Akpom
Referee: Neil Swarbrick
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Early team news ...
Derby County suffered something of a hammer-blow last weekend when their midfielder George Thorne suffered a double leg-break during his side’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of Ipswich Town. Will Hughes is the most likely replacement for Thorne, the white-haired England U-21midfielder having made tentative steps back to the Derby first team since April after recovering from a serious knee injury.
Hull City have another Guardian interviewee available for selection, with David Meyler having returned from a hamstring injury after missing the final four games of the season. The Republic of Ireland international is unlikely to start, with Steve Bruce looking likely to stick with the starting XI that thrashed Rotherham 5-1 last weekend.
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Greetings, sports fans ...
With a windfall of up to £200m up for grabs and room for just one more snout in the Premier League trough next season, these are extremely tense times for the four teams contesting the Championship play-offs. Sheffield Wednesday beat Brighton 2-0 in the first leg of one semi-final at Hillsborough last night, while Derby County and Hull City will go toe to toe at the iPro Stadium in the other. Hull City finished in third place in the table, five points ahead of Derby, despite losing both their Championship encounters against the Rams. City lost 2-0 at home to County in November, before going down 4-0 on their visit to the iPro in early April. Kick-off is at 12.30pm BST, but we’ll be here before that with team news and build-up.
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