Championship: Burnley and Sheffield United win to further extend gap at top

Scott Twine celebrated his first goal for Burnley with a stunning free-kick winner three minutes from time as the Championship leaders claimed a 2-1 comeback victory over West Bromwich Albion.

Twine, who has been restricted to five substitute appearances following his summer move from MK Dons, curled a set-piece into the top corner to see off their spirited visitors.

West Brom had led from the seventh minute at Turf Moor, when Darnell Furlong outmuscled Charlie Taylor at the near post to head in John Swift’s corner. Nathan Tella, though, produced a calmly taken equaliser 15 minutes from the end, before Twine’s late winner.

Burnley’s unbeaten home record, stretching back to last May, was under pressure from the seventh minute, when Carlos Corberán’s side took the lead, with Furlong scoring seconds after Daryl Dike’s header from a Swift corner had been blocked by home midfielder Josh Cullen. The hosts could have gone further behind as Swift broke down the right and rolled a pass into Dike 10 yards from goal, with Cullen getting back just in time to make an excellent block.

Burnley then had two penalty appeals rejected in quick succession as first Ashley Barnes tumbled under Erik Pieters’ challenge following Tella’s delivery from the right and then Josh Brownhill appealed in vain for a shove in the back by Furlong as they went for Connor Roberts’ ball in.

Barnes was close to an equaliser twice before half-time, first deflecting Ian Maatsen’s drive into the net, only to be caught just offside, and then striking the crossbar with a rising first-time drive from Anass Zaroury’s cross.

Vincent Kompany’s side continued to press for a goal and got it when Tella raced on to Zaroury’s through pass, clear of Pieters, and scored an equaliser.

Alex Palmer then dropped a cross at the feet of substitute Jay Rodriguez and – recovering just in time – then blocked well from Charlie Taylor’s volley, but could do nothing to deny Twine.

“I’ve been close to many successful players and many successful teams but this feels very special. This feels different. I don’t know how to explain it,” said Kompany. “I should say I’m not surprised but, in a game of such high standards, I am surprised, even though there have been so many things we have already seen from them this season.

“It’s about character almost as much as quality. And they’ve earned it. There is a group dynamic and an energy that they bring every single day.”

Corberán said: “We should have done more to attack them second half. But they had a lot of the ball which made it difficult to press. The first goal changed everything. At that moment we still had possibilities to take something.”

Burnley remain top, five points ahead of Sheffield United who beat Hull 1-0 thank to Daniel Jebbison’s first league goal for the club since May 2021.

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The 19-year-old striker ended his 18-game league drought for Paul Heckingbottom’s men, who maintained their push for automatic promotion with an 11th victory from their last 13 games in all competitions.

Hull put up a strong fight and were pressing for an equaliser until a moment of petulance saw Ghana striker Benjamin Tetteh sent off for an attempted head butt in the 85th minute.

The game’s decisive goal came from the night’s first attack in the fourth minute when Anel Ahmedhodzic broke down the right channel and slipped the ball inside for Iliman Ndiaye. His shot was blocked but the ball broke kindly for Jebbison, who stabbed in from seven yards.

“We could see, straight away, that Hull were sending diagonal balls towards our wing-backs. We changed a couple of positions and altered our shape to try to hit their back four,” said Heckingbottom on a day United were hit with a transfer embargo by the EFL in relation to a breach of rule 52.2.3, which concerns the default of payments to another club. “We know now that when we play teams, there’s generally a shift in what they try to do. We just couldn’t get that second goal.

“Burnley got a late winner – good on them. It’s going to be like this until the end of the season. Our goal came earlier but that doesn’t mean it was any less hard-fought. They’ll be feeling the same as us: that every win is a big achievement to celebrate in this league.”