Wayne Rooney delivers ‘interesting’ Burnley verdict after narrow victory over his Plymouth Argyle side

The Clarets claimed a deserved three points back on home turf thanks to Josh Brownhill’s first-half penalty.

Scott Parker’s side dominated the first half and had the chances to extend their lead, but after only scoring once it set up a nervy second period where the visitors briefly threatened to steal an unlikely point.

While it wasn’t to be, Rooney was pleased with his side’s efforts against what he described as a tricky Clarets outfit.

“They’re an interesting team, Burnley. They’re a good team,” he said.

“They’ve scored a lot of goals so far this season but the chances they’ve created and the good chances they’ve created is not very high. I think they’ve scored a lot of goals from the edge of the box and I think we did nullify those chances.

“They are a threat though, so we were coming up against a really good attacking team with pace and energy, so they can cause you a lot of problems.

“I felt we dealt with it okay. For a period in the first-half they caused us problems down the sides but we made a slight adjustment at half-time, which meant we dealt with it a lot better.

“They looked a little bit nervous towards the end because we were coming for that equaliser but unfortunately we didn’t get it.”

The result saw Argyle drop down to 17th in the table, three points clear of the dropzone.

“Obviously I’m disappointed with the loss,” Rooney added.

“We know Burnley are a good team. They’ve got some very good attacking players, especially out wide, some quick players. But we felt being organised in our shape and then trying to stop the ball going to them and stopping their midfield runners was the best way to go.

“We just lacked a bit of energy in the first-half though and that’s cost us the game. It was important for us to get in at 1-0 at half-time, where we then spoke about lifting the energy, the composure and the belief.

“In the second-half we made life difficult for Burnley with how we moved the ball and with the positions we took up. With a little bit better decision-making in the final third I felt we could have maybe come away with a point.”

The game was ultimately decided by Brownhill’s spot kick, which was awarded after Josh Cullen was brought down inside the box by Plymouth’s Darko Gyabi.

While Rooney initially felt it was the right decision to award the penalty, on reviewing the footage he felt his side were harshly dealt with.

“Initially from the side it looked like a penalty, so I understand the referee giving it,” he said. “But having watched it back I don’t think it was as clear-cut as I thought.

“Darko does put his leg up but I think it’s clever play from the Burnley player, who throws himself into it.

“As an attacking player you use your nous, if the leg is there you throw yourself into it and you con the referee a little bit.

“I felt it was a little bit harsh but the referee gave it, so we had to deal with it.”