Man Utd 3 Burnley 0

DEBUT ... Burnley manager Brian Laws

BRIAN LAWS' debut as Burnley boss ended in defeat as his side were outclassed at Old Trafford.

The former Clarets defender took charge of his first match since replacing Owen Coyle.

It was the toughest of tests for Laws with Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney and Mame Biram Diouf getting the goals.

There could have been many more with Nani and Paul Scholes both missing a number of chances.

Coyle's recent defection to Bolton could have unsettled Burnley but that certainly did not look the case in the opening exchanges.

In fact, it was the visitors who should have taken a first-half lead through Steven Fletcher.

He was played in by on-loan striker partner David Nugent but with a free run at goal the Scot could only fire wide.

That did spark United into life with Nani and Rooney testing Brian Jensen.

Bulgarian hitman Berbatov went close twice with his best chance being a header, which he could only power over.

Rooney curled a shot from outside the box wide, then Jensen touched Nani's overhead kick round a post.

Despite the Red Devils' dominance, they were wasteful with their chances.

After the break, Jensen saved easily from Scholes while Rooney, Nani and Berbatov missed the target.

They were almost made to pay for all their misses when former United winger Chris Eagles played in Nugent.

The Portsmouth ace raced through but just as Fletcher did earlier, he rolled his effort wide.

It was a crucial miss as soon after Berbatov gave United the lead they deserved.

There was an element of luck about the goal too as it needed a flick off the bottom of Michael Duff's boot to take it past Jensen.

Within five minutes, Rooney had wrapped up the victory with his 15th Premier League goal of the season.

Berbatov burst clear and fired at Jensen who could only parry to the England striker to tuck in.

Sub Diouf netted his first for United since joining from FC Molde in the dying minutes to compound Laws' miserable day.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Brown, Jonathan Evans, Evra, Valencia, Carrick (Anderson 66), Scholes, Nani, Berbatov (Owen 73), Rooney (Diouf 74). Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Park, Fabio Da Silva, Rafael Da Silva.

Goals: Berbatov 64, Rooney 69, Diouf 90.

Burnley: Jensen, Mears, Edgar, Duff, Jordan, Alexander, McDonald (Gudjonsson 73), Eagles (Blake 83), Elliott, Nugent, Steven Fletcher (Thompson 36).

Subs Not Used: Penny, Kalvenes, Eckersley, Guerrero.

Att: 75,120

Ref: Lee Probert (Wiltshire).

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