A fine strike from Connor Roberts was not enough to take Burnley to the top of the Championship as they were held to a draw by Middlesbrough.
The Welshman bent in a shot from 25 yards in the 37th minute, but Burnley needed that to cancel out Anfernee Dijksteel’s 13th-minute opener on a night when Turf Moor was battered by wind and rain.
Ultimately two sides managed by the one-time England teammates Scott Parker and Michael Carrick could not be separated as Burnley were left a point behind Sheffield United, who travel to West Brom on Sunday, while Boro stay fifth.
Burnley came into the match on the back of five straight clean sheets but, given Boro’s record of 13 goals in their previous three away games, it was perhaps no surprise that run did not last. What was surprising was how easy it appeared to breach Burnley’s defence for the first time in 501 minutes.
Quick GuideSelles leaves Reading for Hull job
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Ruben Selles (pictured) has left Reading and taken over as Hull head coach on a two-and-a-half-year deal. The Championship club dismissed Tim Walter on November 27 and quickly set sights on the fomer Southampton manager Selles.
The 41-year-old Spaniard has caught the eye with his work at financially-stricken Reading over the past 18 months, with a successful survival bid in League One last season followed by an impressive push up the table this term.
Hull chairman Acun Ilicali said: “We are delighted to have secured the services of our No 1 target. Ruben’s ambition aligns with ours. His passion and enthusiasm shone through in our meetings and we share similar ideas of how we want football to be played.”
Valencia-born Selles said: “I know the team, the club, the history and I’m looking forward to starting my journey with the team. I saw a lot of similarities with where we are as technical staff and what we want to do for the present and the future, and that’s why I decided to come.”
Reading quickly moved to secure a replacement for Selles with Royals under-21 manager Noel Hunt named as his successor on a contract until 2027. Hunt will take charge of Saturday’s trip to Wycombe.
Dijksteel burst down the right to start the move and was there to end it when Bashir Humphreys failed to track him as he latched on to Dan Barlaser’s pass, breaking into the box and prodding the ball over James Trafford for his first Championship goal.
Burnley responded well, and it needed good reactions from the Boro goalkeeper Seny Dieng to scoop Josh Cullen’s shot over the bar after a wicked deflection off Dael Fry.
With swirling winds, the precursor to Storm Darragh, blowing spare balls on to the pitch, Burnley kept up the pressure as Jeremy Sarmiento tried to arrow in a shot that Dieng palmed into the side-netting.
The home side deservedly got themselves level eight minutes before half-time, perhaps with a helping hand from the conditions.
Roberts played three one-twos, the last with Josh Brownhill, before hitting a shot from 25 yards that caught out a flat-footed Dieng as it looped over him and into the net, Roberts’s first Burnley goal since April 2023 after he spent the second half of last season with Leeds.
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The start of the second half was all Boro. George Edmundson headed just wide from Barlaser’s dinked free-kick before Delano Burgzorg shot straight at Trafford from the centre of the area.
The arrivals of the substitutes Zian Flemming and Hannibal Mejbri gave Burnley fresh impetus, but Hannibal was guilty of squandering a fine chance in the 68th minute, insisting on going alone when Jaidon Anthony was in space and screaming for the ball to his right.
Boro’s substitute Emmanuel Latte Lath then broke the offside trap to race on to Finn Azaz’s pass, and Trafford had to be precise to nick the ball away from the Ivorian on the edge of the box.
It was then Anthony’s turn to bend a shot wide from the edge of the box before the otherwise excellent Roberts fluffed his lines from five yards out following a corner, and it ended all-square.
