Jakilović addressed the media ahead of the final on Thursday, expressing concern about the limited time they have to prepare for the match against Boro.
“It was definitely a relief because we knew who we were going to play since Tuesday,” he said.
“We have been preparing for seven days to play Southampton because they won the final. “It (Boro’s build-up period) may be a little short, but we have played Southampton twice and we know them and they know us.
Jakilović also quipped that Hull should be given automatic promotion to the Premier League rather than play in the play-off final against Boro, before shedding further light on the club’s hasty preparations for Saturday’s big game.
“What happens is up to me. The best idea is to promote Hull automatically,” Jakilović joked.
He added: “It doesn’t matter to me what the best-case scenario is. Things changed from Tuesday because we were focused on Southampton and that meant the game was shorter.”
“But tactically we had a good session and tomorrow we will decide who will be in the first eleven, but I hope we can perform well.
“The players are fully focused on the final. It’s a 50-50 match no matter who they play.”
Hull was relieved that the final had not been postponed and that Tuesday, May 26, had not been considered as an alternative date.
The confirmed kick-off was finally set for 3.30pm this Saturday, ahead of Sunday’s final day of the Premier League and the League One and League Two play-off finals.
“I’m very happy that the game is on Saturday,” admitted Jakilović. “My first question was, are they going to postpone it because 12 days until the final is already too long? They need to change this.
“We can change this by playing twice in three days and then having 12 days off. We celebrated as a team for two days, then trained, then had the weekend off, and from Monday it was a normal week.”
“We’ll see on Saturday how well we prepared. We want to show the football we’ve been playing this season.”
Turning his attention to Boro’s team, Chief Hull showed some understanding, saying: “It’s difficult because you have to switch off and then switch on. It’s not easy to prepare like that for this kind of game.”
