Burnley have claimed their first away point of the season as Tom Heaton's heroics in goal helped the Clarets hold Manchester United to a goalless draw at Old Trafford.
Buoyed from their 1-0 win against rivals Manchester City in the EFL Cup, Jose Mourinho's side were in confident mood ahead of Saturday's Premier League meeting against a side that had not claimed a single point away from home.
However the Clarets stopper pulled off a string of superb saves to help his side to a clean sheet, while the hosts endured a frustrating day at the office as they went down to 10 men, saw Mourinho sent to the stands and fell further behind in the title race.
The game began positively for the Red Devils, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic forcing Heaton into a save with a shot from the edge of the area just 25 seconds in.
By the quarter-hour mark it was clear that the game would be one-way traffic as Ibrahimovic and skipper Juan Mata weighed in with yet more chances, but a combination of poor finishing and Heaton's saves would go on to set the tone for the afternoon ahead.
Sean Dyche's charges managed to register a few half-chances against their dominant opponents, Sam Vokes firing wide on 23 minutes and Michael Keane and Johann Berg Gudmundsson threatening seven minutes later, but on the whole the Clarets had to repel wave after wave of Red attacks.
Late on in the first half United were denied a penalty by Mark Clattenburg after Jon Flanagan's tackle on Matteo Darmian in the box and, after the break, Mourinho was no longer in the dugout, reports claiming that he had been sent to the stands for remonstrating with the referee.
The onslaught continued throughout the remainder of the game but Heaton continued to impress in between the sticks, as Paul Pogba, Ibrahimovic and Mata just could not get the ball past him and into the back of the net.
United would go on to see another two penalty calls turned down, while Burnley had a potential spot kick of their own snuffed out when Ashley Barnes tumbled to the ground under pressure from Marcos Rojo.
The Red Devils appeared to lose some of their edge after Ander Herrera was shown a second yellow card and given his marching orders for a challenge on Dean Marney, but soon enough Burnley were under the cosh once again.
By the latter stages of the game, the confidence had drained from United, who saw Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney skew gilt-edged chances from close range late on.
Ultimately the final whistle blew on another demoralising result for the Old Trafford outfit, which saw them slip to eighth in the Premier League table, while the Clarets could celebrate their first point on the road and a shift up to 13th place.
Giuseppe Labellarte
