BURNLEY Football Club captain Steve Davis handed over a floral tribute before yesterday's match with Nottingham Forest as a mark of respect to Nathan Shaw.

The 17-year-old died outside a Burnley town centre pub after an incident before the club's game at Turf Moor last December. The teenage Nottingham Forest fan had travelled to Burnley with friends to watch his team play.

Players and club staff from Burnley also made the journey to the Midlands for Nathan's funeral and ties between the two clubs have strengthened since his death. And the Burnley skipper handed over the tribute to home skipper Gareth Williams as the teams prepared to kick-off at the City Ground for a game the home side won 2-0.

A Burnley Football Club spokesman said: "Steve Davis presented Gareth Williams with a floral tribute as a mark of respect.

"Since Nathan's death ties between the club have grown and we wanted to show that what happened has not been forgotten."

After Nathan died in hospital, flowers and cards from people in Burnley and Nottingham were left near Yates's Wine Lodge in St James Street where the incident is alleged to have taken place.

Prior to yesterday's Bank Holiday match, there had been fears of crowd trouble and hooligans were warned to stay away, but police in Nottingham said the game passed without incident.

Andrew McNee, 18, from Haslingden, has appeared in court charge with the murder of Nathan Shaw. McNee has denied the charge.