BURNLEY'S goal-shy players have to start hitting the target and easing the burden on top scorer Gareth Taylor.
That is the view of skipper Steve Davis ahead of tomorrow's crucial clash with bottom of the table Stockport County, the side with the worst defensive record in the county.
"We have got to take the burden off Gareth," he admitted as he reflected on a run that has seen Burnley find the net just 10 times in the last 13 league games. That contrasts poorly with the first 13 league games that brought a remarkable haul of 30, with goals flying in from all over the pitch.
"The whole team has to take some responsibility because I have always said that we attack as a team and defend as a team," added Davis.
"It is about time I got up for set pieces and got a couple of goals myself. We have been getting chances but at the moment we are not making keepers make saves."
Taylor has scored half of the recent run of goals with the others coming from Ian Moore, Ian Cox, Paul Weller, Alan Moore and Arthur Gnohere.
In that time the Clarets have failed to score in five games and only at Watford and Crewe scored more than once.
Eleven-goal Ian Moore, who was left on the bench for four recent games, has not struck a league goal this year and has not found the net since his hat-trick against Canvey Island in the third round of the FA Cup.
Davis felt that Tuesday's defeat at Walsall was typical of how things have been going as he said: "We started both halves well but did not make the most of it."
But he insisted there was no doom and gloom in the camp as they prepare for the trip to Edgeley Park as he explained: "We have just got to pick ourselves up, we know what we have got to do.
"We have all got our jobs and we know what we are capable of. Stockport County will be a difficult game especially if the wind stays strong as we don't expect the pitch to be a bowling green.
"Games against Stockport stick in the mind, like the play-off final, and this is a key one again."
Davis has just returned from four months out of action but he will still be disappointed with a personal total of just one goal in 19 games this season.
Tomorrow afternoon would be the perfect time to end his drought, stretching back to the home game against Manchester City on August 27.
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