Oli McBurnie wrote his name into Hull City folklore by scoring a dramatic 95th-minute winner at Wembley to send the Tigers back to the Premier League, beating Middlesbrough 1-0 in the Sky Bet Championship play-off final.

The striker pounced on a spilled cross from substitute Yu Hirakawa, capitalising on goalkeeper Sol Brynn's failure to hold the ball and finishing with composure before celebrating wildly in front of the Middlesbrough supporters.

Nine years in the making

The result ends a nine-year absence from the top flight for Hull, a club that only survived in the Championship last season on goal difference. They also become the first sixth-placed side to win the play-offs since 2010 — a remarkable turnaround for a club that was outside the play-off positions heading into the final day of the regular season and operating under a transfer embargo.

For Middlesbrough, the heartbreak is compounded by an extraordinary week that saw them reinstated to the competition just days before kick-off following the 'Spygate' affair, in which Southampton were expelled on Tuesday night and subsequently lost their appeal the following evening. Boro had not even confirmed their place at Wembley until less than 72 hours before the opening whistle.

Spygate casts a shadow

The pre-match build-up was unlike anything a play-off final had seen before, dominated entirely by the controversy surrounding Southampton's expulsion. Despite the chaos, Middlesbrough's supporters arrived at Wembley in defiant numbers, a sea of red filling one half of the national stadium and matching the amber glow from the Hull end.

McBurnie's moment

The match itself was a tense, tight affair that offered little in the way of clear-cut chances. The closest either side came in the first half was McBurnie heading a Ryan Giles cross against the crossbar just before the interval.

With the game drifting toward extra time, Hirakawa's delivery into the penalty area caught Brynn in no-man's land. The Middlesbrough goalkeeper could only push the ball into the path of McBurnie, who finished without hesitation to send the Hull supporters into delirium.

Hull City will play Premier League football next season. Middlesbrough must begin again in the Championship.