Full TimeSecond Half ends, Middlesbrough 1, Burnley 2.Post updateAttempt missed. Chuba Akpom (Middlesbrough) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Hayden Coulson with a cross following a corner.Post updateCorner, Middlesbrough. Conceded by Bailey Peacock-Farrell.Post updateAttempt blocked. Hayden Coulson (Middlesbrough) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Chuba Akpom.Post updateAttempt saved. Chuba Akpom (Middlesbrough) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Hayden Coulson with a cross following a corner.Burnley have secured promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt with a 2-1 victory over fourth-placed Middlesbrough. The Clarets, unbeaten in the league since November, took an early lead when Ashley Barnes redirected Josh Brownhill’s low shot into the back of the net. The home side equalised just after half-time when Championship top scorer Chuba Akpom scored from the spot after Josh Cullen felled Cameron Archer in the penalty area. Connor Roberts steered in the winner from Nathan Tella’s near-post cross and Kompany’s men saw out the rest of the game in comfort to spark wild celebrations on the pitch and among their travelling fans.
Vincent Kompany’s Burnley have made history by becoming the first team in the English Football League to secure promotion in 2022-23, having been top of the table since 25 October. The Clarets, unbeaten in the league since November, took an early lead when Ashley Barnes redirected Josh Brownhill’s low shot into the back of the net at their victory over fourth-placed Middlesbrough. The home side equalised just after half-time when Championship top scorer Chuba Akpom scored from the spot after Josh Cullen felled Cameron Archer in the penalty area. However, Connor Roberts steered in the winner from Nathan Tella’s near-post cross and Kompany’s men saw out the rest of the game in comfort to spark wild celebrations on the pitch and among their travelling fans.
Victory for the east Lancashire side sent them 19 points clear of third-placed Luton, who have six games left to play. This has looked very different to their previous successes under long-serving boss Sean Dyche, who was sacked on Good Friday last year. From the first game of the season, when they saw off Huddersfield in the Championship curtain-raiser back in July, it was apparent that they would be playing a far more possession-based game to the one employed by Dyche. They suffered defeat at Watford in the third game of the campaign and had just six points from their first five matches, but Kompany did not waiver and a 16-match unbeaten run sent them to the top of the league.
A heavy 5-2 defeat at Sheffield United did not derail them, as they secured a 3-0 win over east Lancashire rivals Blackburn in their next game. They picked up where they had left off after the break for the World Cup and they equalled a club record with a 10-game winning run that saw them open up a huge gap on the chasing pack. No side has won promotion to the Premier League with seven games left since the second tier rebranded in 2004 – and Burnley will now look to secure the title, break the 100-point barrier and become the first team to go unbeaten at home in a Championship season since Newcastle United in 2009-10.
Given the amount of change that Kompany has overseen since taking charge it was somewhat ironic that it was a combination of two players who were there when he took over that gave them the lead. Brownhill’s low strike from the edge of the area might have been going in anyway but 33-year-old Barnes, who has now won promotion to the Premier League three times with the club, stuck out a foot to redirect it and leave Boro keeper Zack Steffen with no chance. Tella missed a gilt-edged chance to double their lead before the break when he fired wide after being played in behind the home defence.
Akpom’s 27th goal of the season brought Michael Carrick’s men back into it and they enjoyed a spell of dominance thereafter. However, they could not create another real chance of note and were opened up by a pass into the inside right channel that Tella latched on to, before putting it on a plate for former Boro loanee Roberts to score. Akpom had a chance in the last minute to delay the Burnley celebrations for a few days at least but he headed wide at the back post. There was a sour note when Clarets midfielder Johann Berg Gudmundsson was struck by a coin thrown from the Middlesbrough end during the celebrations of the league leaders’ second goal.
Successive defeats for the Teessiders means they will almost certainly have to go through the play-offs if they are to join Burnley in the Premier League next season. Burnley boss Vincent Kompany told Sky Sports: “It’s Easter and there’s seven games to go and we’re already celebrating. We didn’t expect it.” He added: “We wanted to experience this at some point but quicker is better sometimes as well.” Record-breaking Clarets have now won promotion to the Premier League in each of their past three seasons in the second tier and they need just 11 points from their final seven games to secure the title, while 13 will see them become the first Championship team to break the 100-point barrier since Leicester City in 2013-14. The Clarets host second-placed Sheffield United, who were last team to beat them in a league game 19 matches ago, on Monday and will look to make further history this season.