Burnley were relegated to the Championship in a tense final day of the Premier League season, as a 2-1 defeat, plus Leeds nicking a late winner at Brentford, meant the ‘Clarets’ dropped to the second tier for the first time in six seasons.
After languishing at the bottom end of the table for the bulk of the season, the ‘Clarets’ brought the curtain down on their turbulent campaign with a nail-biting final day tussle with Leeds United, to find out who would avoid slipping out of the top-flight.
Burnley’s assignment of matching Leeds’ result became even more arduous midway through the first half, when Nathan Collins was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area, leaving Craig Pawson no choice but to point to the penalty spot. After a VAR check confirmed the decision, a composed Callum Wilson fired immaculately past Nick Pope, sending the England international the wrong way, and at this juncture, potentially leaving the ‘Clarets’ with an even bigger mountain to climb.
In response to agonisingly falling behind, Jackson introduced Wout Weghorst after the interval to bolster the Lancashire outfit’s attack. It eventually became all or nothing for the ‘Clarets’, as the news filtered through that the Yorkshire side had taken the lead at the Brentford Community Stadium, meaning Burnley now ultimately required two goals.
Disaster soon followed for the hosts on the hour mark, when the ‘Magpies’ had the home side stretched, and Allan Saint-Maximin teed off Wilson, who made no mistake in front of goal to double his and Newcastle’s tally. Despite their PL future now hanging by a thread, the ‘Clarets’ rallied and managed to snatch a goal back, as Maxwel Cornet injected some hope after blasting in a volley, with the Burnley fans coming alive once again to push their team over the finish line.
Now fighting for their lives and sensing an equaliser, the Lancashire side went gung-ho, and Weghorst thought he’d written his name in the history books, but the Dutchman’s bending strike whistled past the post. Even with giving it everything they could, Burnley were unable to find the all-important answers, and succumbed to a seventeenth defeat of the season, as Championship football awaits next season.
