By MICK ROBERTS
STATS European Football Writer=

LONDON (SE) – Manchester United kept pace with league leaders
Chelsea despite being made to work for their 3-0 victory over
Burnley in Brian Laws’ first game in charge.

Strike from Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney inside five
second-half minutes ensured the three points before Mame Diouf
claimed a first goal for the Red Devils late on.

The three-goal margin flattered United who would have been
grateful neither Steven Fletcher or David Nugent had their
shooting boots on as both Burnley players missed fine chances in
each half.

Sir Alex Ferguson said: "It was funny game, we had so many
opportunities in the final third it was almost embarrassing we
did not score but they had one break away and they nearly
scored.

“The same happened in the second half but that is what happens
in the Premier League.

“It was a good game of football, Burnley play nice football and
you need to take your chances when they came along and when
Dimitar scored I thought he had looked the most likely.

“What you need in this game in patience and we kept going and
kept waiting and got our rewards.”

With most of the pre-match talk in the week dominated by
United’s emerging financial problems Ferguson would have been
pleased to finally have some football to get his teeth into.
However it proved a frustrating afternoon against Burnley with
Laws immediately instating his style on the squad Owen Coyle had
moulded before his departure to Bolton last week.

The Clarets were slick in their passing and movement and
repelled everything United threw their way, leaving a nagging
doubt around Old Trafford about whether the home side could
recover from this mild mid-winter slump.

Burnley were not only there to defend as they were desperately
unlucky not to have taken the lead from a rapid breakaway which
should really had seen Fletcher claim his tenth of the season.

Nugent exploited space down the right flank and drilled the ball
into the area to find the Scottish forward but Fletcher lashed
his shot wide when he should have at the very least tested Edwin
van der Sar, on his return to the side.

United continued to enjoy good possession but with little
penetration and Burnley could sit back and hope for more
opportunities to counter-attack.Nani and Berbatov missed decent
chances in front of goal but it was little United deserved
following a truly uneventful half for the hosts and little
improved immediately after the break.

Brian Jensen kept out a tame Paul Scholes header but Ferguson’s
side were looking desperately short on ideas and invention and
should have been behind when Nugent wasted the best chance of
the match.

The on-loan Portsmouth striker collected Chris Eagles’ pass to
shrug off the attentions of Jonny Evans but for all the good
build-up the finish could not be applied as Nugent toed wide.

United’s team display was woefully lacking and predictably they
had to rely on the individual brilliance of Berbatov and Rooney
to salvage anything from the game.

The attacking duo turned on the class on 64 and 69 minutes to
put the game beyond Burnley as Rooney set up his strike-partner
who beat Jensen, thanks in-part to a deflection off Clarets
defender Michael Duff.

Jensen then denied the Bulgarian minutes later only for the ball
to land at the feet of Rooney who converted.

Burnley had still not given up as Steven Thompson’s header
crashed against the crossbar in the final ten minutes before
Senegalese strike Diouf added a flattering edge placing his
header from Antonio Valencia’s pass over Jensen.

Proud Laws said: "The scoreline is not what the players deserved
because we played exceptionally well.

“We had the best chances in the game, lots of opportunities and
it was a delight to see the player perform like that.

“We knew Manchester United would have chances and put pressure
on the ball but if you were a neutral here you would have been
impressed with the performance of Burnley.

“I said to the players that there are more plusses to come out
of this game and we have a great chance of staying in this
division if we maintain that level.”

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