Owen Coyle hails 'magnificent Blake' after Burnley slay Manchester United

Brilliant Burnley turned their big-time return into a Beauty and the Beast fairy story last night as they beat mighty Manchester United.

The beauty came from Robbie Blake's stunning strike that gave Sir Alex Ferguson's side an embarrassing defeat and keeper Brian 'the Beast' Jensen saved a crucial penalty.

Blake has been around a bit, but even he was only two months old when Burnley were relegated 33 years ago - but the club's long wait for a top-flight goal seemed worth every second.

The far-travelled forward smashed a shot past England hopeful Ben Foster with a blistering volley from Patrice Evra's clearance in the 20th minute to send Turf Moor into turmoil.

Blake was then grateful to Jensen after his mistimed tackle brought down Evra before half-time. The keeper read Michael Carrick's spot-kick perfectly and added to his legendary status with a fine save.

Burnley boss Owen Coyle claimed his latest famous scalp and said: "Nobody outside this football club gave us a chance tonight. Most people thought we would have zero points from the first five games.

"But it was a magnificent win, we worked so hard and had moments of real quality. We scored a wonderful goal and we are absolutely delighted.

"Robbie is capable of that, we encourage him to be positive and it was a fitting way to win the game."

United could not match that finishing class and questions will be raised about their threat up front. Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney failed to fire and lacked physqiue against a committed Clarets defence.

Owen was unlucky to have a debut goal ruled out for offside. The veteran striker was wrongly flagged before scoring past Jensen at the second attempt with the score 0-0.

But Owen did miss a decent chance when he headed wide and was subbed just after the hour as Ferguson frantically looked for an equaliser.

Rooney had a quiet night, trying his luck with a couple efforts as he chased his 100th United goal and earning mocking chants of 'you're not Robbie Blake' from the home fans.

The win was no fluke, with the Clarets having a purple patch before the opener and always trying to play their silky football.

United made six changes but every player who came in was a full international and vastly experienced, so they had no excuses as they lost vital ground in the title race.

Ferguson admitted: "We're disappointed, it wasn't our best performance. But we should still have won the game with the chances we had.

"It's a bad blow and everyone will say we take our time get going, but nonetheless we shouldn't be losing these games.

"Blake's goal was a fantastic hit. It was a big night for Burnley, they got their victory through a ten-minute period, they played very well and put in some dangerous crosses."