Burnley 5 Sheffield United 0: Vincent Kompany’s men run riot as first home win since promotion proves worth waiting for
JAY RODRIGUEZ scored the fastest goal in Premier League history as the Clarets lifted the blues around Turf Moor.
The veteran Burnley striker hit the net inside the first 15 seconds and from that point Vincent Kompany’s strugglers just couldn’t stop scoring.
But while one horror story came to an end it only gets more scary for Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom after his ten men were taken apart by the team that couldn’t win at home.
They were already two behind when Ollie McBurnie was sent off just before the break for a second yellow card challenge on defender Dara O’Shea.
By the end they were lucky to get away with only losing by five.
The Bramall Lane boss’s job is now hanging by a thread and his side second bottom.
READ MORE IN FOOTBALL
Burnley went into this clash haunted by a different kind of history.
They had become the first top flight team to lose their opening seven games to a season.
There was also the danger of becoming the first – ever in the Football League to lose their first eight of a campaign.
But those fears were blasted away as they added a staggering 50% to the ten they had only managed to score in their previous 13 league games.
Most read in Football
FREE BETS - BEST BETTING OFFERS & NEW CUSTOMER BONUSES
They might still not escape the drop – no team has managed to do so in the Prem after their start but at least they have hope.
For Heckingbottom and his Blades after this there can be none at all.
The opener was what dreams are made of for boss Vincent Kompany and his players.
It had all the look of a pre-planned move as Zeki Amdouni won the ball on the edge of the box and slipped sideways to Charlie Taylor.
The left back slung over an instant cross and Rodriguez was already in mid- air to meet it, the header flying past stone-cold Wes Foderingham.
The Blades were wobbling even at point, 19 year old left winger Luca Koleosho a constant, darting pest.
Sander Berge, meanwhile, was booed at every touch by the visiting fans still upset he deserted for £15M after their team had followed Burnley up into the Prem.
Yet the 25 year old Norwegian chose this game to produce his best performance since joining Kompany’s young squad.
His calming influence within a set of players who throughout that awful run had been consistent only in their naivety was crucial.
He slowed the game down, especially when the Blades looked they were building a head of steam – Oliver Norwood’s 30 – yard blast demanded a flying parry from James Trafford.
Yet the Scandinavian remained ice-cool as those around hi in claret and blue gained their second wind.
They were helped, too, by the shocking capitulation that allowed them to double their lead.
Dara O’Shea sent forward a long ball designed more to allow he and his fellow defenders to get their shape back.
Yet Jacob Bruun Larsen had the easiest of tasks to flick away from the hapless Luke Thomas just inside the Yorkshire side’s half near the touchline.
Making his first Prem start a summer loan entrance from Hoffenheim, streaked away with no – one to beat but Foderingham.
But the goalkeeper proved no contest either in that 29th minute, the Dane keeping his composure to deliver a sweet left – footer beyond the goalkeeper’s dive.
That was only the start of the implosion that continued a horror story that will only have one end and has put Heckingbottom’s at such serious risk.
For within the next dozen minutes McBurney picked up those yellows in a brutal side-show with O’Shea.
First he rose to elbow the centre back, a clear red – card offence except not to referee Chris Kavanagh or VAR Stuart Atwell.
Second later O’Shea took retribution with a late high kick on the striker which was anything but pretty and his name went into the book.
McBurnie was now seeing red – literally – and aright – arm swipe on his opponent a minute into time added on saw him walking this time.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
After that it was only about how many Kompany’s men would rattle home and in the final 17 minutes Amdouni, Koleosho and skipper Josh Brownhill took full advantage.
Relive all the action with our live blog below...