A HOME win is imperative when the Clarets take on Gillingham at Turf Moor tomorrow.

It doesn't matter what the performance is like because what we need out of this game is three points.

If we can pick up that win then hopefully it will change the pattern that has been developing, and if we gain one win maybe we can then go on and take six or nine points over the next few games.

With things being tight in the first division, that kind of return could take us above halfway in the table but we really do need to break a run which has seen us fail to win for the past two months in the League - not since success over Sheffield United in early December.

It is not as though the team has been playing badly. I think the performances since the turn of the year have been good and we have been in decent shape - but we still have not got that League win we so desperately need.

I am not averse to us throwing in a bad display if it happens that we get the right breaks and gain a victory simply because it is imperative that we get a win under our belts.

But the Gillingham game is not an easy one - event though some people looking in from the outside might feel it is a fixture that we are expected to win.

Gills manager Andy Hessenthaler has done a very good job at the Priestfield without having huge resources and has built a team that will battle - so we will have to watch it.

We may have beaten them comprehensively in the FA Cup just a couple of weeks ago, but this game remains a potential banana skin for the Clarets and Gillingham will certainly be up for it.

The main problem we have to solve is how the side will shape up without the suspended Robbie Blake.

Stan Ternent could turn to one of his new men up front, but I feel that he will opt for a rock steady defence and then pack the midfield behind Ian Moore in attack.

That opens the question as to just where people will fill in if we play with five in midfield.

It would be good to see Luke Chadwick back to his best, because of late a lot of Burnley fans have been asking just what has happened to him.

When he arrived he was like a breath of fresh air and showed some Premiership class, but by the end of the year he didn't look 100 per cent.

He has had a toe injury back in October and never seems to have been quite on his game since then, but with Blake out he could really stake a claim if he is selected.

While he is not a natural goal scorer he is capable of picking up goals along the way and hopefully the opportunity could come his way tomorrow.

But the win really is imperative tomorrow because not only could it help us start climbing the League, but it could also see the club start to attract back some more supporters - which a winning run could easily do.