Blake the hero as Burnley shock United

Robbie Blake scored the only goal as promoted Burnley shocked Premier League champions Manchester United with a 1-0 victory at Turf Moor on Wednesday.

Owen Coyle’s side refused to be intimidated by their illustrious visitors and took the lead in the 19th minute thanks to Blake’s powerful strike.

And they kept their lead just before the break when goalkeeper Brian Jensen pulled off a fine save from Michael Carrick’s penalty.

United pressed hard after the interval but could not find a way past Jensen as the Clarets, who have been tipped strongly for relegation, held on for a memorable victory to celebrate ending their 33-year spell outside the top flight.

The hosts tore into Sir Alex Ferguson’s team from the very start and even though Wayne Rooney was at his probing best, the outsiders quickly took control.

Steven Fletcher should have opened the scoring when Martin Paterson’s cross was flicked on by Chris McCann but the Scot missed the target with a wild effort.

Rooney was a constant early threat and as the England star looked to run onto Carrick’s pass, Stephen Jordan was lucky to see his interception fly just wide.

Then Carrick bounced an effort over the bar after he was left unmarked for Ryan Giggs’ corner.

The Clarets were looking to pass at every opportunity and opened the champions up with a fine passing move.

Graham Alexander took a free-kick quickly to Wade Elliott, who threaded through for Paterson only for the Northern Ireland man’s drive to be blocked by Ben Foster.

But in the 19th minute, Burnley, who underlined their quality with League Cup wins over Arsenal, Chelsea and Fulham last season, grabbed a shock lead thanks to Blake’s thumping strike.

Jordan’s deep cross for Paterson was headed away by Patrice Evra but Blake met the ball on the volley and fired into the top corner.

The hosts did not settle for that and when Blake’s whipped free-kick was glanced on by John O’Shea, Fletcher fired wide with a bicycle kick.

United still looked a major threat and a flowing move saw Michael Owen feed Rooney but the ex-Everton man curled wide from just outside the box before Owen glanced wide with a header from a deep cross from Wes Brown.

The champions looked like they would get back in the game when Owen fed Evra and Blake tripped the Frenchman in the box just before the break.

But Jensen guessed right to push Carrick’s penalty away to preserve the Clarets’ lead.

Burnley kept the tempo up after the restart and Blake found a gap in the wall with a free-kick only to see his shot just fly past the post.

But Jensen had to be aware to block from Rooney after the England striker was played in behind Clarke Carlisle by Anderson.

Antonio Valencia came on for Anderson to give United more width but immediately failed to hit the target with a header from Evra’s deep cross.

England coach Fabio Capello was in the stands to see Owen replaced by Dimitar Berbatov.

The Bulgarian missed with a curling shot and Park Ji-Sung’s drive was pushed away by Jensen.

Danish goalkeeper Jensen showed great awareness once again when he was out quickly to block Giggs as the United captain raced onto Rooney’s pass.

Burnley again had to rely on Jensen’s speed of thought to deny Berbatov after the United striker was played in by Rooney.