I'm not a quitter

Burnley lost their fourth game in a row last night, going down 2-1 at Turf Moor to Leicester. It followed heavy criticism of his players on Monday following the defeat at Walsall.

"I have not packed anything in in my life and I don't intend to start now," Ternent vowed as he clarified his position. "I have no intention of leaving but I did make the comments about the players.

"But as far as leaving Burnley Football Club, it won't be under my volition."

Ternent was equally defiant about the ability of his side after last night's vastly improved display still ended with a fourth successive defeat at the hands of high-flying Leicester City. And while some of the fans might now feel a place in the play-offs is finally beyond them, Ternent clearly believes the old adage that where there is life, there is hope.

"They are capable of being a top six football team," he insisted. "They have been in the top seven for the last two seasons.

"We still have an opportunity to do that (reach the play-offs) if we can win our last ten matches. That has to be the target.

"I have not given up on the play-offs, not while it is mathematically possible. Even if it isn't, I want to finish as high as possible."

If his stinging criticism at the start of the week was meant to inspire a positive response from his players, it certainly worked. The manager made six changes, some enforced, others by choice, and he was rewarded by a performance that had everything except the end product.

As a result a stoppage time own goal from Foxes defender Frank Sinclair was not enough as it followed two late strikes for the visitors, Paul Dickov and Trevor Benjamin scoring from left wing corners,

But Ternent still saw more than enough from the Clarets to believe that the demoralising FA Cup defeat at Watford might at last be behind his men.

It was another defeat but he claimed: "Losing is not the ideal world but how you lose is important. If we keep the same level of performance then we have got a great chance of winning matches.

"They had a right good go and played some good stuff. If we pass the ball and play the way we can we are looking good."

Last night's match was the first in a run of five successive home games and on Saturday Grimsby Town will be the visitors. They triumphed last night with a last minute John Oster goal at Rotherham that lifted them out of the bottom three.

But Burnley's players showed last night that there is still plenty of fight left in them and they will be determined to avoid the sharp edge of their manager's tongue for the last ten games of the season.