STAN Ternent was this morning checking on the fitness of his injured players as he plans for the trip to play-off chasing Norwich City on Saturday afternoon.

His players have been lifted by Tuesday's morale boosting derby defeat of Preston North End at Turf Moor but he is still hoping that he will be able to bring back a couple of key players.

With Arthur Gnohere set to serve the second of his two match ban for his dismissal against Bradford, Ternent will be hoping that he might have more options in the back line than on Tuesday night.

"Drissa Diallo might be ready but although Ian Cox came out of plaster a bit back Saturday's match might come a bit quick for him," he confirmed as he looked ahead to the weekend.

But he was delighted with the way his scratch partnership of Mark McGregor and Graham Branch coped against Preston the other night, playing a big part in the side keeping a clean sheet for the first time in nine games.

Branch has played in a variety of positions for the Clarets and his versatility could prove a major factor in him earning a new contract after his current one expires at the end of the season.

While Diallo and Cox are getting close to becoming available, Ternent acknowledged: "Obviously Paul Cook and Alan Moore are long term problems and I have got four players out on loan.

"I did that when we had a full squad and then we suddenly sustained a lot of injuries."

One of those players who has been loaned out is young defender Earl Davis and, despite the current injury crisis at Turf Moor, Ternent has allowed him to extend his loan spell with Southport for another month.

His initial one month deal came to an end at the weekend but the Conference side were keen to keep him there for longer.

The Manchester born 20-year-old will now stay at Haig Avenue until the end of the season in a deal that has delighted the Sandgrounders boss Mike Walsh, who admitted he wanted the big central defender for the rest of the campaign.

Whilst Davis has been with the Merseyside based club, they have won two games, drawn one and lost four with Davis involved throughout. The deal will expire on May 3 after Southport's final game of the season at Stevenage Borough when he could find himself marking Dino Maamria, Burnley's former ethnic minorities officer.

The trip to Norwich is just the latest in a series of long away trips this season but at least the Burnley players will be spared an arduous coach journey.

For the first time this season the club has chartered a flight for the trip and it will depart from Warton on the morning of the match.

Fans have been offered the chance to fly down with the manager and the team and it follows the scrapping of a similar trip to Portsmouth. That trip was called off because the match was postponed and when Burnley go to Fratton Park on Tuesday night, it will now be by coach.