Hull promoted to the Premier League: Oli McBurnie says it was "written for me" to score the play-off final winner at Wembley

Hull's Oli McBurnie said it was "written for me" to score the winner in the Sky Bet Championship play-off final that sent the Tigers back to the Premier League.

The striker struck in the 95th minute at Wembley to earn Sergej Jakirovic's side a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough and send them back to the top flight after nine years away.

"For the first time ever, I think I'm speechless!," he told Sky Sports.

"It's been a long, hard season and that game today summed us up. We knew we weren't going to come in and have all of the ball - I don't think we've won a game this year when we've had more of the ball than the opposition!

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"It was tough out there with the heat and Middlesbrough are a top, top team. We knew we were going to be right up against it, but we felt we'd have one chance and it was written for me to get it.

"I didn't think it would be so late on, but what a feeling.

"When I first got my move to Sheffield United, it was what they expected of me and I probably wasn't really ready to be that person.

"As I've grown and got older and more mature, I think I've grown into that role and I enjoy that. I was looking forward to this game so much I couldn't sleep last night!"

McBurnie, 29, joined Hull from La Liga side Las Palmas last summer and scored 19 goals in all competitions, including the aforementioned winner.

"When I came back from Las Palmas, I knew some of the lads in the dressing room, whether I'd played with them or against them. It wasn't all about the ability that they had but also the character they had.

"I knew I was going into a dressing room with winners. If you surround yourself with enough winners, you are going to win.

"When things get tough, you look around and you have 10 other men who you really want to go to war with and fight with. That's what it was out there today. At times, I was knackered but the lads were giving me that extra little bit.

"There are games this season where people will be wondering how we've won a game, a bit like today, but it is down to the character of the boys in the dressing room. I can't speak highly enough of them."

Jakirovic: If Wilder was Sheff Utd manager last summer, McBurnie wouldn't be here

Hull head coach Sergej Jakirovic in his post-match press conference:

"We signed Oli McBurnie three days before the season. I spoke with him in June, waiting for him for three months.

"Very lucky he came here as Chris Wilder is his football father.

"Big experience of the Championship - he handles pressure, easy. He is ready for these types of games.

"If Wilder was Sheffield United was head coach [last summer] then Oli would be a Sheffield United player, 100 per cent."

'Incredible decision from Scotland not to take McBurnie to the World Cup'

Don Goodman on the Sky Sports Essential EFL podcast:

"For the season he's had, I just find it the most incredible decision that Scotland aren't taking him to the World Cup. Especially when I compare him to the strikers that they actually are taking, with respect to them.

"But he's had his moment and he'll enjoy his summer now.

"I thought they got the gameplan spot on again today, particularly in that heat, which was a factor.

"There's no question in my mind that there would have been more intensity to Middlesbrough's play were it not for the heat."

Coyle: I would have loved to celebrate this with my dad

Hull captain Lewie Coyle also spoke to Sky Sports after leading his hometown club to promotion.

His father Chris Coyle, who died suddenly in 2022, was a well-known figure in the city, where he ran a fruit and veg stall in the city while raising four boys who have all gone on to become professional sportsmen.

"It's tough. There's just one man I want to celebrate this with. He's not with us. I look up at the sky and I had a look up there today. He's with me, I know he's with me, for sure.

"The next best thing is I have my family, my beautiful partner, my little boy, my brothers and my friends that have been there since day one.

"I don't think there's many people that thought I could captain a side to the Premier League and even saying that out loud sounds a little bit wild. I'm just an honest, humble kid.

"But there's certainly one man that would have believed in me and that's my old man - and that's all I told myself throughout the game.

"He would'ver been saying 'you can do it, son, f**k them'. I know I swore and I shouldn't, I apologise, but I had to get it in there because that's how my old man spoke.

"I just kept replaying those words in my mind and he got us over the line today. I know for a fact my old man did it."

Hull owner Ilicali: This is the best day of my life

Hull owner Acun Ilicali speaking to Sky Sports:

"This is the best day of my life for sure. Because in my career, I managed many successes starting from zero in my business.

"But football is a crazy thing. You can enjoy every moment in every profession. But the enjoyment of football, the goal [going] inside, you win it, this is different for the psychology."

On his emotional reaction at full-time: "This is the video of my life. This is my family, my daughters, my brother, my wife.

"We waited so much time [in stoppage time at the end]. The last five minutes, I couldn't move.

"I wouldn't be able to handle a last-minute goal. This would be too much. I waited for the final whistle like I was waiting for a train!"

Hull have defied data and logic to seal Premier League return

Analysis by Sky Sports' Sam Blitz:

This time last year, Hull City were one game away from dropping to League One. A year later - and they're in the Premier League.

They have gone from surviving in the Championship on goal difference last season to becoming the first sixth-placed team to be promoted since 2010.

And a deeper look into Hull's season shows this team are defying logic, not just recent history.

If matches were decided by expected goals (xG), a dataset right at the heart of the modern game, then it would tell a different story of Hull's season.

Hull should, according to the data, have finished second-bottom this term. The relegation they nearly faced last season should have happened.

The numbers are staggering. Hull should have picked up 13 fewer points than they actually did - and should have conceded around 16 more goals.

Why do these numbers exist? Well normally, you put it down to a strong defensive structure or an impressive goalkeeper. Except they don't. They've actually been one of the leakiest teams in the Championship.

Hull conceded 66 goals in the regular season. That's seven more than Oxford United who were relegated. Only three teams in the bottom half of the table - Leicester, QPR and Wednesday - conceded more goals than Hull, who also conceded the second-highest number of shots on target in the division.

The Tigers have the best shot conversion rate in the division. And they have Oli McBurnie and Joe Gelhardt to thank for a lot of that firepower.

With 17 and 14 league goals to their name respectively, McBurnie and Gelhardt were two of the most accurate strikers in the league. They rank first and second in the Championship for shots on target - even though all of the other forwards in the top 10 in that category have managed more shots.

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