Burnley’s survival hopes received a huge boost after it held Manchester United to a stalemate at Old Trafford, with Zeki Amdouni’s late penalty earning the Clarets a point that inches Vincent Kompany’s men a little closer to pulling off a great escape.
Adrift of safety and knowing Nottingham Forest and Luton play fellow basement dwellers next weekend, Burnley realistically needed to leave Old Trafford with something to show for their efforts to boost their survival hopes.
Those hopes almost took an instant hit though, when Alejandro Garnacho was afforded too much space at the far post, but he was leaning back and his strike drifted harmlessly over the bar.
United were firmly on top in the opening stages, and they came even closer shortly after when Antony broke in behind, only to see his effort drift narrowly wide of the post.
A United opener only seemed a matter of time away when they came even closer midway through the first half, with Bruno Fernandes watching on with anguish as his effort crashed back off the post.
That seemed to be the wake-up call Burnley needed, as it was then their turn to land a couple of blows, with Wilson Odobert’s effort forcing an acrobatic stop out of Andre Onana, before Lyle Foster’s header saw the Cameroonian produce an even smarter stop.
It was all Burnley towards the end of the opening 45, but they simply couldn’t make their pressure count, with Onana again keeping United in the game by denying Foster one-on-one.
You sensed there was always a likelihood the Clarets would be made to pay for their missed chances, and they were almost made to do so within minutes of the restart. Fortunately for Kompany’s men, Arijanet Muric produced a fine stop to deny Antony after he was smartly set up by Garnacho.
It was a rather strange feeling for both sides as the game approached its latter stages – largely because both desperately needed the win for very different causes.
United looked the likelier of the two to find what would’ve been a huge winner, yet the irrepressible Muric was doing his level best to ensure that wouldn’t be the case, producing another impressive stop to deny Garnacho.
There was always a sense of inevitability that Muric would eventually get beaten, and so it proved a little over 10 minutes from time.
It was in gift-like fashion too, as Antony read Sander Berge’s blind pass, strode clear on goal and slotted into the bottom corner.
Unwilling to lie down though, a moment of madness from Onana, who clattered Amdouni, afforded the Swiss international the chance to score from the spot – one he duly accepted to earn Burnley a deserved point in the desperate battle to beat the drop and dent United’s top six hopes in the process.
