Hull City 1-0 Middlesbrough: FLW report as McBurnie heroics send Tigers back to Premier League

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·23. Mai 2026

Hull City 1-0 Middlesbrough: FLW report as McBurnie heroics send Tigers back to Premier League

FLW report live from Wembley for the Championship play-off final

Hull City ended their nine-year exile from the Premier League in the most dramatic of fashions, defeating Middlesbrough 1-0 in the Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium.

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After the most tense of affairs, Oli McBurnie netted his 18th and most crucial goal of the season in the fifth minute of second half stoppage-time, capitalising on the most costly of errors from Boro goalkeeper, Sol Brynn.

Sergej Jakirovic's team were then able to hang on to the most priceless of scorelines against Kim Hellberg's men, who saw their season end in further drama and hurt following the spygate scandal surrounding their play-off semi-finals versus Southampton.

Hull City 1-0 Middlesbrough

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the opening 10 minutes in North London proved to be cagey, with both sides looking to cause issues from wide areas to no avail, before a nasty collision between Matt Crooks and Alan Browne saw the Boro midfielder come off worse.

The first clear attempt came on 16 minutes, with Aidan Morris evading Regan Slater's challenge before dragging a low effort wide from 20 yards. David Strelec then glanced a close-range header wide from a Browne cross as City were put under intense defensive pressure.

Brynn was called into action for the first time on 24 minutes as Lewie Coyle's glancing header from Liam Millar's deep cross needing to be tipped over the crossbar, before fellow full-back, Ryan Giles, was given time to line up a strike which ultimately sailed into the stands.

A neat interchange on halfway between Crooks and McBurnie seven minutes before the break sent Millar one-on-one with Brynn, but the Reds shot-stopper read the through ball to perfection to deny the Canadian a clear goalscoring chance.

Semi-final hero, Mohamed Belloumi, then got his first sight of goal from 20 yards, with the Algerian seeing an effort similar to his strike against Millwall bending the wrong side of Brynn's right-hand post. Jakirovic's men certainly saw their belief grow further in the half's final minutes when McBurnie flashed a header off the crossbar.

In the final seconds of the half, quick thinking from Brynn and a slip from Charlie Hughes presented Strelec with an opportunity which also flew just wide of the post.

The Teessiders looked to force the initiative early in the second period, with Morgan Whittaker's fizzing strike deflecting off John Egan, before two successive corners ended with captain Dael Fry heading over.

Hull's first chance after the restart was a tame one, however, as Crooks failed to punish his former side with a free header from Coyle's hanging delivery.

With the encounter turning end-to-end on the hour mark, Hughes was on hand to block another Strelec effort, whilst Belloumi's latest mazy run ended with a strike easily gathered by Brynn.

After a handful of changes from Jakirovic and Hellberg, one of those for Boro, Sontje Hansen, thought he'd opened the scoring with a low curling strike which agonisingly rolled across Pandur's net after a fingertip, even though he was deemed offside.

Hull substitute, Joe Gelhardt, then worked his first shooting chance with an improvised effort from a tight angle that was dragged wide with nine minutes to go.

The tensions only rose when eight minutes of added time were allocated at the end of the encounter, before McBurnie pounced on a dropped ball from Brynn to steer home his eighteenth goal of the campaign from close range.

City were then able to see out the remainder of the 13 eventual added minutes to return to the top-flight, after a season which began with the club tipped for relegation and a transfer fee restriction.