Burnley 1-0 Man Utd: Time warp at Turf Moor

Read the score line again and savour the moment. For ninety minutes on Wednesday night Turf Moor was back in the swinging sixties as Burnley Football Club revisited its glory years.

Owen Coyle has inspired his team to some great nights over the past year, the cup wins over Chelsea and Arsenal, the performance in the second leg of the Carling Cup Semi Final against Spurs, the playoff victories over Reading and our Wembley promotion; but this was to surpass them all.

Every route to Turf Moor was jammed with Claret as the pubs, chippies and street sellers all benefited from the pre match expectancy that filled the air.

Inside the ground Claret and Blue was represented on all four sides of Turf Moor for the first time in years, the pitch was in pristine condition, whilst the players sported their vintage kit complete with the championship winning badge of the 59/60 season and hooped socks.

A glance at the betting coupon gave us little chance of even scoring a goal never mind getting a result. Not that anyone cared, as fans we were just happy to be rubbing shoulders with Manchester United as equals in the Premier League.

Coyle made one change to the side that lost at Stoke, in came new signing Bikey while there was a slight tweaking of the midfield and forward line.

Many fans pointed in awe as the likes of Rooney, Giggs and Owen lined up before kick off. I think it’s fair to say the players were in no similar mindset as they pressed and harried their superstar opponent’s right from the first whistle.

Eighteen minutes in came Robbie Blake's wonder strike. As the ball dropped from Evra's defensive header Blake struck a thunderbolt straight past Ben Foster who could hardly have seen it fly past him. Ecstasy ensued, as the whole place went wild, a real hug a stranger moment.

We're getting used to seeing stunning goals whilst watching Burnley. The last four competitive goals we've seen have been beauties. Paterson and Thompson's against Reading, Elliott's at Wembley and our first Premier League strike courtesy of Blake have all been worthy of winning any game. Its official, wonder goals are the new tap-ins.

Then just before half time came another familiar sight; heroics from Brian Jensen. Bizarrely Michael Carrick stepped up to take Ronaldo's role as United's penalty taker after Blake had upended Evra. Saved. The Beast does it again. And throughout the night he did it again and again and again as the Great Dane bravely thwarted United's attackers several times to preserve the unlikeliest of clean sheets.

United may have lacked cutting edge but take nothing away from the players of Burnley Football Club who throughout the ninety minutes gave their all for the team.

The back four of Mears, Bikey, Carlisle and Jordan were superb, putting their heads and bodies in front of everything United had to offer. In midfield Elliott, McCann and Alexander were not fazed one bit as they competed all night against the guile of Carrick and Giggs. Blake and Fletcher were impeccable out wide, taking the pressure off by helping us keep the ball further up the field whilst also tracking back admirably. Paterson a lone figure up front kept running all night giving the likes of Wes Brown and Johnny Evans a torrid time.

As the game progressed nervy movements followed, how many times have we seen United come back in this sort of game before? On came big hitters like Berbatov and Valencia whilst Gary Neville also took to the field. But it wasn't to be as even a surprisingly short four minutes of Sir Alex Ferguson stoppage time wasn't enough for the visitors to forge a breakthrough.

As Turf Moor rocked towards the final whistle the realisation came that these really are our new glory years. Not since 1968 have we beaten Manchester United in the league and now these days are back as the illustrious history of Burnley Football Club continues under the guidance of Owen Coyle and Chairman Barry Kilby.

Survival is most definitely a real possibility as long as we can keep Turf Moor the fortress that saw off the champions of England.

Last night produced one of the great nights at Turf Moor as the Clarets announced to everyone around the world that they really are Premier League.