Burnley have been the league leaders in the Championship for much of this season, with on-loan Ian Maatsen a key part of their side throughout, featuring from the start again as they secured their promotion to the Premier League with a 2-1 victory away at Middlesbrough.

The attacking full-back has been a near ever-present in Vincent Kompany’s new-look Clarets team, who have now gone without defeat in the Championship since the start of November and with their latest victory pulled out an insurmountable 19-point lead over third-placed Luton Town, having played a game less, ensuring they will finish in at least second place and return to the top flight at the first attempt, following last season’s relegation.

They had to work hard to seal their top-two finish on Friday, though, against a Middlesbrough side going into the game third in the table with promotion ambitions of their own, in the first of a double-header of fixtures in the Football League over the four-day Easter holiday weekend.

All seemed to be going to plan when Ashley Barnes nudged Burnley into an early lead but Maatsen was powerless to prevent Middlesbrough equalising from the penalty spot in first-half stoppage time. However, from the moment Connor Roberts sent Nathan Tella’s cross into the back of the net and restored their lead, the result and the Clarets’ promotion seemed inevitable as they saw out the win in comfort to get the celebrations under way.

Maatsen, Kompany and Co aren’t finished for the season yet, though, as they shift their focus to the 11 points needed from their last seven games to guarantee they go up as champions, while an additional two would make them the first side to amass 100 points in the English second division since Leicester City in 2013/14.

Burnley have already written their names into the history books, as with seven games remaining it is the earliest that any team has secured promotion since the Championship was created in its current form in 2004.