HE may not be pretty, but Norwich skipper Iwan Roberts remains a pretty effective centre forward.

The Welsh international signed an extension to his contract before the match and was a real handful for the Clarets defence -- earning massive praise from his manager Nigel Worthington.

"That new deal is probably the best signing this club has made in the last half a dozen years," he enthused.

"That is because of what he is, what he stands for and his attitude both inside and outside the club. Just having him around is a terrific thing for a manager."

Having Roberts on the pitch was not great for the opposing manager, who saw his defenders given a battle from the first minute to last.

Worthington was delighted with the result that took his side back into second place, above Wolves and two points behind Burnley but with a game in hand.

"The two teams tried to play football and they were both good honest sides," he said. "It was a good competition but I think we deserved to win it over all. "

"We know that Burnley are a hard working side with a lot of ability. If you stand off them they will hurt you so it was great to get such an early goal.

"You have to start right and the lads got their rewards because they kept being positive."

Burnley boss Stan Ternent was considerably less happy with the way his side started. "It is fair to say that we didn't play in the first half," he moaned.

"I don't think we did enough for a point because we didn't play for two 45 minute sessions. We did not play at the pitch we normally play at. Our second half performance was good, we passed the ball a lot better."

The Burnley boss saluted Norwich's opener and said: "The first goal was fantastic and you have to accept that."

However, he was less happy about Norwich's second and suggested that Nik Michopolous might have been fouled, but added: "The keeper is a big lad and he should stand up and be counted."

He also said that his players felt they should have had a penalty inthe first half when Glen Little went down on the edge of the box but admitted: "I couldn't quite see but the lads felt it was in the area. But the referee didn't so that is it, no penalty.

"It has still been a fantastic start to the season and we just have to be ready for a big match against Crewe on Tuesday."