Oli McBurnie scored in injury time to send Hull City into the Premier League with a stunning 1-0 win over Middlesbrough at Wembley.
After a tense championship play-off final, McBurnie took advantage of poor Sol Brynn goalkeeping to score the winner in the 95th minute.
It means the Tigers – who spent 2020/21 in League One – return to the top flight for the first time in nine years, and in doing so become the first sixth-placed team to win the play-offs since 2010.
Last season they were tied only on goals. This time they were promoted.
For Boro, after all the emotion and controversy of the ‘Spygate’ saga that saw them sent back to the play-offs a few days ago, they will return to the Championship next season.
The Spygate saga overshadows the pre-game build
It was a last game unlike any other, dominated by the ‘Spygate’ saga.
Middlesbrough did not know for sure they would play until less than 72 hours before kick-off – Southampton were dismissed on Tuesday night, before their bid was rejected on Wednesday night.
Despite all that, and their home defeat in the semi-final, Boro came in full force, a defiant sea of red filling one side of the Wembley bowl against the amber light from the other end.
McBurnie struck late on to equalize
It was a tense first half of the play-off final, with neither side getting any closer until half-time, when McBurnie latched on to a Ryan Giles cross but it hit the post.
And that would be the last real chance until late at night.
It looked like the game was headed for extra-time until Yu Hirakawa’s cross into the box was only pushed by Boro keeper Brynn to McBurnie, who finished calmly, before pouncing in front of the Boro supporters.
Hull, who have had to deal with a transfer ban and were out of the play-offs going into the final day of the regular campaign, will play in the Premier League next season.
McBurnie final: ‘It was written for me to get it’
It wasn’t a stunning strike like Hull’s last two play-off winners – Dean Windass in 2008 and Mo Diame in 2016, but this will undoubtedly go down as Oli McBurnie’s final.
McBurnie joined Hull before the start of the season from Las Palmas, and insisted from the start that he did not leave Gran Canaria to return to the Championship for a ‘central project’.
I don’t think he could have foreseen that this season would end the way it did for Hull.
“For the first time, I think I’m speechless!” he told Sky Sports.
“It’s been a long, hard season and that game today summed it up. We knew we couldn’t come in and have all the ball – I don’t think we’ve won a game this year where we’ve had more possession than the opposition!
“It was tough there in the heat and Middlesbrough are a top, top team. We knew we were going to face them, but we felt we were going to have one chance and it was written for me to get it.
“I didn’t think it would be so late, but what a feeling.”
Sky Sports’ Curtis Davies:
“It wasn’t a great game and there seemed to be a lot of tired legs out there.” Davies – who was part of the Hull team that won in 2016 – said Sky Sports.
“We were waiting for more time and see if there will be one quality.
“I thought it was going to be a level moment in extra time or a mistake. Unfortunately for Sol Brynn, he made a mistake, but Ollie McBurnie doesn’t make a mistake.
“We have talked about him as a difference, he didn’t have much to do in this game and he was almost tagged in it.
“But when his time came he was there to do it. He sent Hull to the Premier League.”
