THE Clarets must be ruthless against Leicester City tonight if they are to keep their slim play-off hopes alive.

That is the defiant message from manager Stan Ternent who admitted: "It's mathematically possible but we will have to buck up big style in our performance. While there is hope, we have got to go for it.

"We need to learn to be more ruthless and defend better, and tonight would be a great time to start.

"We had the first chance against Sheffield United, the same again on Saturday when the keeper saved from Alan Moore and we just have to be more clinical."

Ternent blasted his players following the capitulation at Walsall on Saturday but he is backing them to put things right against a side closing in on automatic promotion.

"This is a fixture to lift the players but they have to get weaving," he said. "We have to be better than we have been since the second half at Millwall, we have not been ourselves.

"We need to get going again. It has been a long hard season, I am delighted with the cup runs but it is not losing, it is how you lose. I know our players are better than what's been shown.

"They have been below my standards but below the high standards they set for themselves. They are the same players that have done well.

"They will have to work harder and run harder because they have the ability. I am looking forward to tonight's game, it just can't come quickly enough for me."

Ternent is hoping that after five straight away trips a home game might inspire his players to rediscover the form that saw them lose just once in 14 matches before the FA Cup defeat at Watford.

"It is a long time since we have been at Turf Moor," he said. "We have been in and out of London, in hotels and on coaches so we will be glad to be back home.

"We now owe the fans a big performance. They have been fantastic because we have not given them much to shout about these last few games."

The Clarets can take heart from the fact that they produced one of the best displays of the season when they became the first side to beat the Foxes at their new Walkers Stadium.

"We played well down there and deserved to win and it would be nice to try and do a double," he said. "It is probably fair comment to say that we have done better against better sides while against supposedly not a big sides we have been found wanting. We have got to do better than that."

Ternent is full of praise for the efforts of his opposite number tonight as he said: "Micky Adams has done fantastically well. He has got some extremely good players that no one else can afford judging by their reported salaries.

"He and Alan Cork are smashing lads but we will be trying our best to beat them tonight. They have a fantastic chance of going straight up but nearer the line you get, the harder it is."

Burnley have not been anywhere near their best in recent games and the manager is clearly demanding they put things right tonight.