Burnley 3-2 Rotherham United: Leaders score twice late on to move five points clear at top

Halil Dervisoglu struck 10 minutes into added time to snatch victory for the Clarets

Championship leaders Burnley scored twice in stoppage time – including a 100th-minute winner – as they came from behind to beat 10-man Rotherham and extend their unbeaten run to 16 league matches.

Manuel Benson curled home a wonderful equaliser before Halil Dervisoglu slotted home a rebound 10 minutes into 13 added on at Turf Moor.

Ben Wiles had nodded the Millers into a shock early lead, only for Jay Rodriguez’s close-range header, his ninth goal of the season, to bring Burnley level.

Rotherham substitute Chiedozie Ogbene restored the visitors’ lead midway through the second half but Cohen Bramall was sent off for two yellow cards in the space of seven minutes.

Benson’s sublime strike put the Clarets back on level terms and the Belgian substitute also played a big part in the winner from on-loan Brentford forward Dervisoglu.

The winger’s fine run and pass teed up Josh Brownhill and although his shot was saved by Viktor Johansson, Dervisoglu was on hand to tuck home and move Burnley five points clear at the top of the Championship.

Victory was Burnley’s sixth in their past seven matches – and their fourth successive win at home – but Vincent Kompany’s side are not doing things the easy way despite their lofty position.

This was the second game in a row where they needed a stoppage-time winner, having beaten Reading 2-1 on Saturday. They also needed a late goal to account for Norwich in their previous game, which followed a comeback from 2-0 down to win 4-2 at Sunderland.

But with entertainment high on the menu and a healthy gap opening up to a number of challengers who seem unable to put consistent runs together, hopes of an immediate return to the Premier League are growing under their new manager.

Rotherham, meanwhile, will consider themselves unfortunate to come away empty-handed from a rollercoaster encounter in which they played a full part until Bramall’s carelessness cost them.

Ben Wiles gave the Millers an early lead, but they could not hold on with 10 men

They were on the defensive for long spells once Wiles stooped to head home Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s cross after just three minutes.

Conor Washington did come close to doubling the lead, his 20-yard left-footed strike well pushed aside by Clarets keeper Arijanet Muric but, that apart, the Clarets bossed the rest of the first half.

Their leveller was a fine goal as Johann Berg Gudmundsson’s deep cross was hooked back by Nathan Tella for Rodriguez to head in from virtually under the crossbar.

Rodriguez and Tella both saw efforts cleared off the line while Johansson saved a Gudmundsson volley, so when Ogbene rolled a shot in off the post in a rare Rotherham second-half break, it was very much against the run of play.

However Bramall, already on a booking, lunged in needlessly on Connor Roberts to hand Burnley the impetus.

And although a superb Ashley Barnes volley was ruled out for offside, Benson provided the magic the Clarets needed to rescue not just one point but all three and keep alive the Championship’s only unbeaten home record in the process.

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany told BBC Radio Lancashire:

“It had a bit of everything – drama in particular – it was good for the team, good for the fans and it just gives us a little bit of something before the next big game.

“I think we just kept doing what we do and we were really unlucky not to score more – lucky that the goals came in the last minute but it should’ve been a bit earlier in the game, if we’re being honest.

“It shows a little bit of maturity because it’s a group that’s coming together and you’ve got to be able to look each other in the eyes in these moments, stay calm, pull each other together and stay at it – that gives you that little bit of experience.”

Rotherham boss Matt Taylor told BBC Radio Sheffield:

“I’m gutted for the players – they deserved something to show for their efforts.

“When you come to the league leaders and a place like this, you need a little bit of luck and a little bit of help from the officials – when I say help, just for them to make the right decisions and that certainly didn’t happen tonight but I don’t want that to take away from what was generally an excellent performance.

“I thought the first booking was pretty cheap in all honesty, in a game where there were very few moments where you thought the referee was going to go to his book. Then Cohen has to understand that he can’t give the ref an option, an opportunity, even a decision to make on the second – especially when it’s happened in such quick succession. But he’s a young kid learning the game and those moments didn’t go our way tonight.

“Tactically, I thought we were excellent, we scored two good goals and we had other good moments in front of goal but ultimately we are stood here pleased with the performance but with nothing to show for it.”

Line-ups Burnley

Formation 4-2-3-1

49Muric

22da Silva5Harwood-Bellis36Beyer29Maatsen

4Cork8Brownhill

7Gudmundsson23Tella19Zaroury

9Rodríguez

Substitutes

Rotherham

Formation 5-4-1

1Johansson

10Norton-Cuffy21Peltier20Hall2Harding3Bramall

22Odoffin8Wiles4Barlaser18Rathbone

14Washington

Substitutes

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