Coyle ready for ‘great adventure’

BURNLEY boss Owen Coyle looked forward to the “great adventure” after masterminding his team’s promotion to the Premier League.

The Clarets beat Sheffield United 1-0 in the Championship play-off final at Wembley to ensure top flight football for the first time since 1976 courtesy of Wade Elliott’s 13th-minute strike.

And Coyle said: “We’ve got a great adventure to look forward to.

“It was great game, end-to-end – and we had chances to put the game to bed. We don’t have quantity but I believe we have quality – I’m delighted with what we’ve achieved.

“I’m immensely proud and delighted for everyone in the town – but my heart goes out to Sheffield United.”

For United, another season in the Championship beckons, two years after they were relegated amid the controversy of the Carlos Tevez affair.

There could be no argument about Elliott’s goal, the 30-year-old midfielder, formerly of Bashley and Bournemouth, conjuring up a strike which would have graced any Premier League ground.

The Blades will point to two penalty shouts turned down by referee Mike Dean, whose appointment was criticised by manager Kevin Blackwell in the build-up to the game.

And they finished with 10 men when Dean sent off young striker Jamie Ward for handball, his second bookable offence.

Victory sees Burnley become the smallest town to boast a Premier League team. Almost half of their 73,000 inhabitants had travelled down to the capital to watch them triumph.

The Clarets were deserved winners in their 61st game of an arduous season, having knocked out top-flight opposition including Chelsea, Arsenal and Fulham during their two epic cup runs.

But they were on the back foot in the opening stages yesterday with United, who held hopes of automatic promotion until the final day of the season, testing Brian Jensen with awkward shots from Kyle Naughton and Brian Howard.

Against the run of play, Burnley took the lead thanks to a superb piece of play from Elliott.

The midfielder burst forward, skipping past a couple of Blades tackles before playing in Chris McCann.

Matt Kilgallon got a challenge in but the ball fell perfectly for Elliott to curl a stunning first-time effort past Paddy Kenny from 20 yards.

United were claiming a penalty two minutes later when Howard tumbled in the area under a clumsy challenge from Graham Alexander, but referee Dean was not interested.

McCann’s afternoon ended prematurely when he limped off to be replaced by Joey Gudjonsson, but the swap did not knock the Clarets out of their stride and Martin Paterson curled an angled drive inches wide of Kenny’s right-hand post.

As the clock ticked into first-half stoppage time Thompson headed Elliot’s cross narrowly wide.

Burnley almost doubled their lead moments after the restart when Robbie Blake’s corner was flicked on by Steven Thompson and Michael Duff, arriving at the far post, just failed to turn the ball home.

In the 55th minute they were denied a second by a dramatic goal-line clearance from Nick Montgomery from a Gudjonsson effort.

United had another huge let-off 10 minutes later when Thompson squared the ball across to Blake, only for young defender Kyle Walker to make a goal-saving challenge.

Burnley’s missed chances could have come back to haunt them in the 68th minute when Christian Kalvenes knocked Naughton off the ball in the box but Dean waved away the appeals.

The Blades’ task became tougher in the 78th minute when striker Jamie Ward, booked four minutes earlier, was shown a second yellow card by Dean for handball, and Burnley held on to ensure a famous promotion.

BURNLEY: Jensen, Duff, Carlisle, Caldwell, Kalvenes, Elliott, Alexander, McCann (Gudjonsson 27), Blake (Eagles 69), Thompson (Rodriguez 73), Paterson.

SHEFF UTD: Kenny, Walker, Morgan, Kilgallon, Naughton, Montgomery, Howard (Lupoli 82), Cotterill (Ward 58), Stephen Quinn (Hendrie 85), Halford, Beattie.

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).