United hit a spot of bother

Burnley 1, Manchester United 0
PREMIER League new boys Burnley announced their arrival on football’s biggest stage in style with a victory against champions Manchester United which will go down in Clarets folklore.

It was an embarrassing night for Sir Alex Ferguson’s men against the shoestring side given little chance of survival.

The beauty of football is that upsets happen - and there won’t be many more seismic ones than last night’s.

Burnley, who battled tenaciously from first whistle to last, had long waited for the opportunity to settle a score as it was 33 years since United had beaten Burnley to end their stay in the top division.

A fuming Ferguson said: “It was a bad performance considering the possession and chances we had.

“We were too frivolous with the chances. We were taking too many touches instead of shooting quickly.

“The opportunities we had were amazing. Sometimes you need a bit of luck, but I think we would have won the game had we scored the penalty (Michael Carrick’s kick was saved).”

The Reds manager also paid tribute to the Clarets, saying: “In fairness to Burnley, they caused us problems and had a good spell in the first half.

“It has been a long time for them out of the top flight and you cannot deny them their victory. They have worked hard and their fans were fantastic getting behind them all night.”

Burnley boss Owen Coyle believes his side can establish itself in the top division.

He said: “There were people who saw our first five fixtures and thought we would get no points so it is nice to prove one or two of them wrong.”

It was clear from the kick-off that the Premier League new boys were not intimidated.

Burnley made the breakthrough in the 19th minute when Patrice Evra only headed Stephen Jordan’s deep cross from the left out to Robbie Blake who found the top corner with a spectacular volley.

United were handed a lifeline in the dying seconds of the opening half when the overlapping Evra was upended by Blake.

However, goalkeeper Brian Jensen, a self-confessed United fan, proved to be a Great Dane with a penalty save low to his right to beat out Michael Carrick’s spot-kick.

The new half did not bring a change of fortune for the Reds.

Ferguson’s response was to bring on Antonio Valencia and Dimitar Berbatov with half an hour remaining, replacing the disappointing Anderson and Michael Owen, who failed to impress watching England coach Fabio Capello.

The Reds belatedly cranked up the tempo in pursuit of an equaliser and Jensen twice came to the rescue of the Clarets with important saves to deny Ji-sung Park and at the feet of Ryan Giggs.