Nigerian defender Semi Ajayi ended a six-year wait for Premier League football as Hull City won the Championship play-off final at Wembley on Saturday, with Oli McBurnie’s stoppage-time goal defeating a reinstated Middlesbrough 1-0 to send the Tigers back to the top flight.
Ajayi, 32, who joined Hull on a free transfer last summer from West Bromwich Albion, partnered John Egan at the heart of a defence that held firm throughout a tense and often dramatic afternoon before McBurnie buried a loose ball from six yards in the fifth minute of stoppage time after goalkeeper Sol Brynn spilled Yu Hirakawa’s cross.
The victory ended Hull’s nine-year absence from the Premier League and vindicated Ajayi’s decision to join a club that had finished lower mid-table the previous season.
The Super Eagles centre-back, who has earned 54 caps for Nigeria, spent six years at West Brom building a reputation as one of the Championship’s most consistent defenders without ever quite securing the top-flight football his quality deserved.
The final itself arrived under extraordinary circumstances. Middlesbrough had originally been eliminated in the semi-finals by Southampton, but the south-coast club were expelled from the play-offs after admitting to filming opponents during matches, including Boro’s training session ahead of their semi-final first leg.
Southampton also received a four-point deduction for next season after an independent commission ruled their manager had specifically authorised the spying.
Hull had navigated their own semi-final against Millwall with a 0-0 first-leg draw before winning 2-0 at The Den, and carried that defensive solidity into the final. The game looked destined for extra time before McBurnie’s decisive intervention gave Jakirovic’s side a famous victory.
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