Southampton's Ings returns to sink Burnley

By Simon Evans

BURNLEY, England (Reuters) - Southampton's in-form striker Danny Ings grabbed an early goal to secure a 1-0 win at his former club Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday.

Ings continued his prolific scoring for the Saints, having now netted 25 of their 54 goals since the start of last season, as he struck in the fifth minute at Turf Moor.

Kyle Walker-Peters played a superb pass through to Che Adams and, with Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope rushing off his line, the forward squared the ball to Ings who turned it home.

Injury-ravaged Burnley had an appeal for a penalty rejected when Chris Wood went down after Polish defender Jan Bednarek laid his hands on his back and there was more controversy involving the New Zealand international after the break.

Wood got behind the Saints defence to latch on to a long ball but the assistant flagged for offside with the Burnley striker continuing his run and putting the ball in the net.

VAR rules instruct officials not to flag or whistle until a move is complete, leading to confusion and frustration on the bench with the Burnley staff believing Wood was onside.

England international Ings had the ball in the net again in the final minutes but that too was disallowed for offside.

Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuettl was delighted with the way his team had responded to losing their first two games, including last week's 5-2 defeat at Tottenham.

"It wasn't a good start to the season but we have focused our work this week on the defence, and it was fantastic to see how much they had invested today," said the Austrian.

Burnley manager Sean Dyche, who was without seven of his already small squad, did not use any of his mostly inexperienced bench and repeated his call for the club to invest in new players.

"The chairman knows what is required. Action, we need players. It is a challenge though here, it always has been," said Dyche, who was able to give a debut to midfielder Dale Stephens, signed from Brighton.

American company ALK Capital are currently in talks with Burnley aimed at purchasing the club.

(Reporting by Simon Evans; Editing by Ken Ferris and Hugh Lawson)