Burnley rounded off a memorable week with an impressive 3-2 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.
Coyle's men blunt Blades in controversial clash
Burnley rounded off a memorable week with an impressive 3-2 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.
The Carling Cup semi-finalists boosted their promotion hopes with a thrilling victory over fellow hopefuls United.
Martin Paterson gave Burnley the lead early on only for James Beattie to draw the home side level from the penalty spot.
Graham Alexander restored Burnley's lead from the spot just before the break and Chris Eagles added a third with a fine solo effort on 79 minutes.
Stephen Quinn found the net from a free-kick late on, but Burnley held on for all three points.
Referee Anthony Taylor was the centre of attention during an eventful first half, awarding a penalty to each side after Burnley had taken the lead thanks to a goalkeeping error in the 20th minute.
United had an early Billy Sharp header ruled out for offside, and it was against the run of play that Burnley scored.
Opener
Kenny stood rooted to the spot as Steven Thompson flicked on Robbie Blake's corner, and Paterson nipped in front of the goalkeeper to poke the ball home at the near post.
Having fallen behind to such a soft goal, United got a huge break 10 minutes before half-time as Matthew Spring's ball over the top found Billy Sharp, who was allowed to run as the Burnley defence appealed for offside.
Goalkeeper Brian Jensen raced out to meet him, sending him tumbling inside the area.
Taylor pointed to the spot, but chose not to even book Jensen despite there being no covering defender.
Beattie was more decisive with a powerful shot into the bottom-left corner for his second penalty goal in as many games.
But Taylor then further agitated the home crowd when he handed Burnley the chance to go back in front, awarding a penalty when Eagles tumbled under what appeared to be a rather tame challenge from Gary Naysmith, with Alexander making no mistake from the spot four minutes before the break.
United boss Kevin Blackwell, who signed a contract extension until 2012 this week, was clearly unhappy with what he had seen, and sent on David Cotterill in place of Greg Halford at half-time.
Instant impact
He almost made an instant impact as his cross picked out Stephen Quinn at the near post, but the midfielder could not keep his header down.
United were playing much the better football, but failed to test Jensen even as they continued to knock on the door.
Blackwell made two more changes, with Anthony Stokes and Darius Henderson replacing Spring and Sharp, and it was Stokes who would go closest to levelling in the 74th minute.
The on-loan Sunderland man rose to meet Brian Howard's corner, only to see his header cleared off the line by Gudjonsson.
After Eagles fired home, Quinn gave the Blades hope with a fine curling free-kick that left Jensen motionless in the 88th minute, but they could not find an equaliser.
