AIDY Boothroyd probably feels as if Kevin Friend has obliged already.
The Leicestershire referee, who struck himself off the Watford manager's Christmas card list by inexplicably disallowing Danny Shittu's early goal before compounding the problem by dismissing John Eustace, clearly had an afternoon to forget at Vicarage Road on Sunday.
But I've got no problems about Hull being inadvertently offered a helping hand towards Wembley.
They should be there anyway. For my money, you should scrap the play-off semi-finals.
There can be little doubt that, after much scepticism when it was first introduced, the system is now a popular feature on the footballing calendar.
But its greatest flaw is that the team finishing third - in this case Hull - derive no real benefit. Indeed, it can turn out to be a real hindrance.
As former Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock, now in charge of Crystal Palace, correctly pointed out before his side's first-leg defeat by Bristol City: "It's always difficult for whoever finishes there. Psychologically they can be down because they might feel as if they've just missed out on automatic."
Not to mention the possibility of being matched against the in-form outfit in the division.
A rugby league-based system would seem to make more sense, reward those clubs with higher rankings and, in certain situations, ensure fair play throughout the whole competition.
If qualification is already assured then what is to stop the outfit concerned from taking things easy during their final few games; a scenario which could colour events at the other end of the table.
Quite simply, the third placed team should automatically be given a place in the final.
Fifth and sixth places meet each other in a one-off fixture, (fifth enjoying home advantage), with the winner travelling to the ground of the fourth placed club for the right to reach the capital.
A good idea? I think so.
But of course it will never happen.
As we've seen all too often recently money, not fair play, seems to be the driving force behind the not-so-beautiful game these days and this proposition would cut the number of play-off matches from five to three.
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