London: Connor Roberts held Burnley to a 1-1 draw against Middlesbrough on Friday to leave the home side a point behind English Championship leaders Sheffield United.
The Welshman curled in a shot from 25 yards in the 37th minute, but Burnley needed to cancel out Anferni Dijkstel’s 13th-minute opener on a night when Turf Moor was hit by wind and rain.
Sheffield United have the chance to extend their lead when they travel to West Brom on Sunday.
Middlesbrough finished fifth. Burnley came into the match on the back of five straight clean sheets but, given Boro’s record of 13 goals in their last three away games, it was perhaps no surprise that the run did not last.
What was surprising was how easy it appeared to breach Burnley’s defense for the first time in 501 minutes.
Dijksteel burst down the right to start the move and was there to finish it off as he latched onto Dan Barleser’s pass into the box and fired the ball over James Trafford for his first Championship goal. Moved forward.
With strong winds, a precursor to Storm Drag, blowing spare balls onto the pitch, Burnley equalized eight minutes before half-time, perhaps helped by the conditions.
Roberts played three one-twos with Josh Brownhill before hitting a shot from 25 yards, which caught out a flat-footed Sean Dying as it crept into the net. It was Roberts’ first Burnley goal since April 2023 when he spent the second half of last season with Leeds.