Matej Vydra scored a vital winning goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers to help Burnley nudge past Everton in their battle for Premier League survival.
In a rare start, the former Derby County man fired home a 62nd-minute winner – his second goal of the season – to raise the roof around East Lancashire in a game that had been billed as a must-win before kick-off.
It is the first time that Burnley have not been in the dreaded bottom-three since October 30 2021 – a weekend that saw them pick up a 3-1 victory over Brentford.
As for Wolves, it was another missed opportunity to close the back on teams pushing for a European spot. Their inconsistency since the turn of the year has been a frustration for fans of the Midlands-based club.
Story of the match
Caretaker coach Mike Jackson had wanted to name the same team that had just beaten Southampton, however, he was forced into one alteration.
Vydra came in at the expense of Maxwel Cornet – who was struggling a knee problem.
Bruno Lage welcome Raul Jimenez back into the team. The Mexican had been serving a three-match ban after his red card against Leeds United. Jimenez returned to the team as one of four changes to the team that lost to Newcastle United.
Leander Dendoncker, Nelson Semedo and Roman Saiss also came in for Luke Cundle, Marcal and Max Kilman.
Turf Moor was filled with a new-found sense of optimism but – just like on Thursday night – it was a relatively slow start from the home side.
In the opening stages, the returning Jimenez fired tamely into the gloves of Nick Pope after a sloppy giveaway in his own box from Connor Roberts.
Wolves were enjoying the lion's share of possession and restricted Burnley to efforts from distance. Dwight McNeil and Vydra both chanced their arm and the Czech's effort did force Jose Sa into a save – albeit a rather easy one.
Jonny Otto and Semedo were enjoying a lot of space in those wide positions and the former forced a smart 20th-minute stop out of Pope, chopping inside Roberts before letting fly with his right peg.
Burnley slowly started to get a foot-hold in the match and, in the 37th minute, Sa had to readjust to tip McNeil's curling strike from the edge of the box over the bar.
The Clarets entered the second period with the hope of upping the tempo and did have the ball in the net within a few minutes of the restart.
Sa saved Vydra's shot and the ball comically deflected into the net via Connor Coady. The striker had strayed offside, though, after latching onto a quickly taken free-kick.
Shortly after, Pope made a fantastic save at his near-post to keep out a Semedo thunderbolt following good work from Hwang-Hee Chan.
And the gravitas of that save was palpable as the Clarets took the lead just over ten minutes later.
Some brilliant play on the right saw Wout Weghorst break clear in the box. The Dutchman stretched to prod the ball across the six-yard box and Vydra slotted into the corner to send the home fans wild with delight.
Jackson went into retro mode, bringing Ashley Barnes and Kevin Long into the action to try and see out the Burnley lead.
And Barnes – being Barnes – thought he had scored an 87th-minute second when he kicked the ball out of Sa's hands at into the net.
Hwang did end a late volley into the gloves of Pope but Burnley – finishing with a back-five – managed to hold out for three enormous points.