Ibrahim Oladamola
Vincent Kompany’s Burnley secured promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt with victory over fourth-placed Middlesbrough.
All the Championship leaders needed to achieve promotion was victory at the Riverside Stadium, and the Clarets took just 12 minutes to break the deadlock when Ashley Barnes tapped home Josh Brownhill’s shot from close range.
Middlesbrough, who went into the game unbeaten in 11 home matches, aimed to maintain that record after half-time and equalised through Chuba Akpom’s penalty following Josh Cullen’s foul on Cameron Archer.
Promotion from the Championship has been secured by Burnley with seven games to spare – a Championship record.
Both Kompany and Burnley chairman Alan Pace admitted the club never envisaged a Premier League return so quickly – as they felt the Clarets needed to wait two or three years to become a promotion-level side.
“This is a complete surprise, this was not our plan,” Pace said.
“Vincent and I spoke during the summer and talked about it at great length. We gave ourselves two to three years [to get promoted], that was the plan. What you’re seeing is a lot of magic coming together.”
Kompany added: “We didn’t expect this. We want to experience it one day but we had a different timing on it. Quicker is better sometimes.”
