Burnley seal promotion back to Prem at first attempt with SEVEN GAMES left as Vincent Kompany’s men beat Middlesbrough
BURNLEY and Vincent Kompany are back in the big time after blowing the Championship away.
The Clarets sealed an immediate return to the Premier League thanks to Connor Roberts’ 66th-minute winner.
Ashley Barnes got the party started before Chuba Akpom’s penalty put the champagne on ice.
But Kompany was jumping for joy opposite old Mancunian rival Michael Carrick when Roberts latched onto Nathan Tella’s low cross to clinch promotion.
The ex-Manchester City colossus has been a revelation since taking over from Sean Dyche.
It was Grim Friday 12 months ago when manager Dyche was sacked as Burnley stared relegation from the top flight in the face.
And it looked like it could take years before they dined at the top table again once Nick Pope, Ben Mee, James Tarkowski, Dwight McNeil and Maxwel Cornet were flogged in the fire sale.
Yet fast forward exactly one year and it’s the best Easter weekend any Clarets fan could wish for.
Dyche had a pub named after him in Burnley – and it might not be long before Kompany is handed his own boozer.
Forget about a transition year, they have bossed the second tier from the start – last losing way back in November.
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Evolving from Dyche-ball was Kompany’s biggest task and the ex-Etihad skipper, alongside his snarling sidekick Craig Bellamy, has played a blinder.
The league’s top scorers and tightest defence, this Burnley are a joy to watch.
They have played with a style and swagger rarely – if ever – seen at Turf Moor, with another £120million coming into the coffers now to splash this summer.
And Kompany has managed something no other Championship boss has, beating Carrick’s Boro at home.
They had to win to get the job done on the night following Luton’s lunchtime draw at Millwall, and it was delirium in the away end after just 12 minutes.
Moroccan winger Anass Zaroury got the move rolling down the left before it was worked to Josh Brownhill 20 yards out.
The midfielder’s daisycutter was heading to the bottom left corner but Barnes was not taking any chances, deflecting beyond Zack Steffen.
The veteran’s fifth of the season and 50th league strike for the Lancastrians, replays showed he was marginally offside – but worrying about VAR can wait a few months yet.
And it really should have been 2-0 soon after when top scorer Tella scampered in behind Darragh Lenihan, only to fire wide when through on goal.
Boro’s own chances of automatic promotion looked remote going into this given they were nine points behind Sheffield United in second.
Carrick has done his own incredible job, catapulting the Teessiders from the bottom three into the play-off mix.
They failed to register a shot on target in the first half but were awarded a penalty inside a minute of the restart when Josh Cullen clipped Cameron Archer.
Akpom took his season’s tally to 26 in expert fashion and the Riverside was bouncing.
As Carrick whirled his arms around to gee the crowd up, Kompany called for calm.
They rode out the immediate storm and came back with a second win, bagging the priceless second.
Tella created it down the right, darting to the byline before pulling back to the unmarked Roberts to bury from close range.
There was pandemonium in the corner again but it soon turned ugly when the celebrating Johann Berg Gudmondsson was hit on the head by a missile hurled from the home end while handing an object thrown onto the pitch to the linesman.
Boro pushed for a late leveller yet, despite being so electric under Carrick, are hitting a bad patch at just the wrong time.
Two straight defeats have blown their chances of gatecrashing the top two, and they need to pick themselves up quickly to ensure a top-six finish.
They sit seven points above Norwich in seventh with six games to play, starting at Bristol City on Monday.
But tonight was all about Burnley. And if Prem fans haven’t been watching, get ready for a Burnley like no other.