Josh Brownhill scored twice as Burnley came from behind to beat Millwall 3-1 and hit 100 points only to miss out on the Sky Bet Championship title on goal difference.
Having been the man to cancel out Mihailo Ivanovic’s 11th-minute opener, Brownhill had the final say with a stoppage-time free-kick after Jaidon Anthony had put Burnley in front in the 65th minute.
At that point the Clarets had thought they might nick the title before Manor Solomon’s stoppage-time winner for Leeds at Plymouth added a final twist.
Instead, Burnley became the first club in English football history to reach a century of points but not win their league title, finishing the season on a 33-game unbeaten run.
Although Ivanovic denied them a record-breaking 31st clean sheet of the season, Burnley end the campaign have conceded just 16 goals in 46 games, the stingiest defence in English football history allowing only 0.33 goals per game. Liverpool also conceded just 16 in 1978-79, but across 42 games.
Burnley’s promotion has been built on that defence but the first half was perhaps one of their shakiest displays, and Millwall – seeking a win that would have put them in the play-offs for the first time since 2002 – stunned Turf Moor 11 minutes in.
Josh Coburn laid the ball wide for George Honeyman to cross, and it was too easy for Ivanovic to get in front of CJ Egan-Riley and poke the ball home.
As things stood, that put Millwall into the top six for the first time since November but it lasted less than two minutes as Burnley replied directly from the restart.
From a long ball over the top Ashley Barnes, starting for Zian Flemming who was ineligible against his parent club, first charged down Jake Cooper on the edge of the Millwall box, then slid in on Zak Sturge, with the ball rolling for Burnley’s top scorer Brownhill to slot in his 17th of the season.
After Japhet Tangana went close for Millwall, Burnley got back on the front foot. Following a neat backheel from Marcus Edwards, Brownhill’s deep cross was met on the volley by Anthony but Cooper, the last player to score a league winner against Burnley back in November, hooked off the line.
A dipping strike from Brownhill was then tipped over by Millwall’s teenage goalkeeper George Evans.
But Millwall should have led at the break as Coburn made a late entry for miss of the season. Tristan Crama put it on a plate, but from just a couple of yards out Coburn somehow struck a post.
It was Burnley wasting chances in the second half. Anthony shot tamely at Evans after good play from Hannibal Mejbri, and the winger again lacked conviction after Evans parried a close-range effort from Barnes.
Edwards, Anthony and Hannibal all had further opportunities before reward finally came in the 65th minute. Egan-Riley’s long free-kick found the run of Anthony who wriggled free of Cooper and this time made no mistake to slot in his eighth of the season.
As time ticked down Trafford had to dive to keep out a powerful effort from Femi Azeez and Brownhill made sure of victory by curling in a late free-kick, although celebrations felt muted after Leeds’ late winner.
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