Burnley 3-1 Middlesbrough: Vincent Kompany’s men rally after Duncan Watmore’s opener to an emphatic win courtesy of a brace from Manuel Benson to take six points clear at the top of the championship
Burnley came from 1-0 down to secure an emphatic victory over Middlesbrough
Manuel Benson picked up a brace after giving away the lead shortly after the break
The win puts Burnley six points ahead of Sheffield United at the top of the league
The Clarets next play against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup
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Manuel Benson was victorious as he handed Middlesbrough the lead to fire off his first Burnley brace to put Vincent Kompany’s team six points clear at the top of the championship.
Benson’s blunder would have allowed Boro’s Duncan Watmore to break the deadlock early in the second half, but the talented Belgian bounced back brilliantly, scoring twice in seven minutes at the hour mark.
An own goal from Jonny Howson then secured Burnley’s victory to maintain their unbeaten home record this season and end Boro’s three match winning streak under Michael Carrick.
Manuel Benson (pictured) scored a brace on Saturday as Burnley beat Middlesbrough 3-1
It came as something of a redemption arc after the winger put Middlesbrough ahead
In a dramatic final, Burnley’s Connor Roberts was sent off after it was claimed he had handled Chuba Akpom’s header – after which Akpom had his penalty saved by Arjanet Muric in the 89th minute.
Boro had arrived with a clear game plan to give Burnley the ball and see if they could break through a stubborn defence.
It took 24 minutes for the home side to get any chance as Johan Berg Gudmundsson got around the offside trap before Zack Steffen made the save at the near post.
Carrick’s men reached the break with their goal intact but there were late warning signals with Josh Brownhill firing over from eight yards after Dael Fry’s miscontrol and Benson saw his shot blocked by Darragh Lenihan.
Thanks to the victory, Vincent Kompany’s team has six points ahead of second place Sheffield United
Watmore’s half-time introduction to Marcus Forss paid off early, with the striker scoring his third goal in five games after 49 minutes.
Benson acrobatically tried to keep the ball in halfway, but only managed to ping it back to his own goal, where the alert Watmore reached the ball ahead of Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
The former Sunderland player ran on to slide a neat low finish past Arijanet Muric before running off to celebrate with the traveling fans behind the goal.
Duncan Watmore scored Boro’s only goal of the match as they briefly threatened to become upset
Boro claimed a penalty that could have made it 2-0, but Chuba Akpom’s protests that Harwood-Bellis had fouled him were dismissed.
The visitors then appeared to be happy with the 1-0, with goalkeeper Steffen being booked for wasting time – but it turned out to be a premature move.
After 60 minutes, Benson made up for his mistake by conjuring the equalizer.
There seemed little danger as he picked up a pass from Beyer up the right flank, but he brilliantly sliced into Ryan Giles and aimed a low finish into the bottom corner before Steffen could get across.
As an encore, the winger scored again seven minutes later.
His curled cross from the sideline was aimed at Jay Rodriguez, but when the striker missed the ball, the ball went off the inside of the post and into the corner.
Burnley will play against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday
It was Benson’s seventh goal of the season after his summer transfer from Antwerp and his sixth in nine games.
Any hope Boro had for a comeback was dashed after 72 minutes. Harwood-Bellis jumped for a cross from Brownhill but the contact came from the visitor’s captain Jonny Howson and the ball flew into its own net.
Boro thought they had gotten a lifeline when umpire David Webb pointed to the spot for handball.
Roberts protested his innocence when sent off, saying the ball had hit the crossbar, but Burnley avoided double jeopardy as Akpom’s feeble penalty was saved.