Clarets end United's 100% start

Last updated : 05 October 2004 By Tony Scholes

Alex Taylor - scored the Burnley goal
And this was no United side of total unknowns as the likes of Chris Eagles, Jonathan Spector, Kieran Richardson, Ricardo and David Bellion lined up against us.

It looked as thought it was going to be a tough evening and we were 1-0 down before the game was more than a couple of minutes old. It came via the excellent Eagles who got down the right hand side to cross low for Giuseppe Rossi to hit home.


They came pouring forward again and it could so easily have been two as their pace up front was causing the young Clarets a lot of problems.

But Burnley sides are nothing these days if not resilient and we battled hard and fought our way into the game with Matt O’Neill, Branch like, winning a lot of headers to set up attacks.

Marc Pugh began to look as dangerous down our right as Eagles had done on the other side and our play came very close to getting us an equaliser as Neal Trotman rattled the United bar.


It was still 1-0 at half time and this was shaping up into a good performance for the young team and if the first half was good then the second was even better.

It was fairly even in the early stages of the half but we were getting stronger and causing them more problems than they were causing us. Amadou Sanokho had started quietly but he got better as the game went on and alongside coach Mark Yates and Joe Booth we were getting on top in the midfield.

You always felt that if we were to get back into it then it might well come down the right and it did as the ball was fed out to Pugh. He was fouled but as the ball ran to Sanokho the referee played an advantage, yes a referee not going the way of Manchester United.

The big midfielder broke down the right, played a ball inside for Booth who slipped it through for Alex Taylor to place into the bottom corner to Ricardo’s left.

United tried to get back at us but we were defending well and Neal Trotman won two superb tackles to stop Bellion as he tried to get forward. There were one or two hairy moments but Jensen hardly had a save to make and it was the Clarets who twice almost snatched it.

Manchester United were on the attack at the end but without the stop watch pointing Ferguson the referee was able to blow on time.


It was a superb performance in what was a very entertaining game as both sides passed the ball around with some style and coach Yates could be well pleased with the way his side had played.

There were good performances all around the pitch for the Clarets but Trotman and Pugh were in fine form in a good team performance.


It was another good night to be a Claret, and a night we certainly didn’t expect after the first few minutes of the game.


The teams were,

Manchester United: Ricardo, Phil Picken, Jonathan Spector, Gerard Pique, Ben Collett, Floribert Ngalula, Chris Eagles, Markus Neumayr, David Bellion, Giuseppe Rossi, Kieran Richardson. Subs: Steven Hogg, Tom Heaton, Adam Eckersley, Colin Heath, David Poole.


Burnley:
Brian Jensen, Joel Pilkington, Neal Trotman, Chris McCann, Paul Scott, Marc Pugh, Amadou Sanokho, Mark Yates (Nicky Platt), Joe Booth, Matt O’Neill, Alex Taylor. Subs not used: Michael Hale, Martin Reilly, Cayne Hanley, Tom Ince.


Attendance:
454.

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