Burnley vs Millwall. Sky Bet Championship.
Turf MoorAttendance21,485.
Burnley 3-1 Millwall: Burnley miss Championship title on goal difference despite plundering 100 points
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Burnley and Millwall at Turf Moor on Saturday; Josh Brownhill scored twice as Burnley came from behind but fell short in their title bid
Saturday 3 May 2025 17:44, UK
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.
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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.
The managers
Burnley's Scott Parker:
"I'm absolutely delighted. The main objective was to get three points and end the season on 100 points. Two defeats all season, 33 games unbeaten, 16 goals conceded, that's all I could ask for really.
"If you'd said to us at any point that 100 points this year wouldn't get you the title we'd all be thinking, 'no chance'. To lose the title on goal difference is a little disappointing but I won't let that overshadow a remarkable season."
Millwall's Alex Neil:
"You see games and those key moments decide big games. If we could have taken that second goal that would have been a double setback for them.
"Pride is the overriding emotion when you look at what the lads have turned out these last game and the big wins we've got,.
"We took it until the last 45 minutes of the season and we can be proud of our work since January."
