BURNLEY'S players are not ready to settle for a place in the top six, their eyes are still firmly focused on automatic promotion.

"We have got 12 cup finals to go and we have got to believe if we can win the majority of them we will go straight up," claimed experienced midfielder Paul Cook. "That is the target for everyone at the club, the players and the staff and we have got to think that we can do it."

Speaking ahead of tonight's clash with promotion rivals Birmingham City at Turf Moor the 34-year-old added: "At this stage of the season the results are paramount and in a lot of ways the performance goes out the window.

"It doesn't matter who you play, it is the results and points that matter. The manager has got a nice healthy squad at the moment and that is going to be vital."

Competition for places in the team meant that when Cook returned to the Clarets starting line-up against Crewe on Saturday it was for the first time since he faced Wimbledon and he admitted he enjoyed being involved again.

Cook still lives in the Midlands having played for both Coventry and Wolves throughout his career and he is more than aware of the threat posed by tonight's opponents.

"Birmingham is a great club, they have got a new manager and a big support," he said. "There are a number of clubs in this division who think they should be in the Premier League but we have seen in the past that no one has a divine right to go up.

"We all play the same games, we all play each other twice and whoever you play is going to be tough.

"But that is a measure of how far this club has come in recent years, we have to get used to playing clubs like Birmingham, Nottingham Forest and Norwich City."

Cook has hit out at any suggestion that the Clarets have been anything but positive in recent games with manager Stan Ternent employing Gareth Taylor as a lone striker.

"Some people might think it is negative but it is as negative as you want it to be," he said. "Gareth might be up front but the gaffer makes sure he is getting a lot of support from players like Glen Little, Alan Moore and Paul Weller .

"None of those players can be called defensive and it is up to the rest of us to make sure we do the work to cover for them as they go forward."

While three points remain the target before every game, Cook is also aware that at this crucial time of the season it is vital not to lose.

"That point we got at Rotherham may prove to be a big point at the end of the season," he said. "And while we want to beat Birmingham tonight, if we are looking back tomorrow and we have got a draw we might not be too disappointed.

"Realistically we know that Birmingham are up their challenging and it is important not to lose. We beat them 3-2 at St Andrews when Glen was on fire in that spell when we were beating everyone that was put in front of us.

"But they have a new manager and some new players so we know it will be different tonight.

"Until the end of the season there will be something on every game that we play, important for all sorts of reasons. But that's what we want and we have been used to it in recent years."

And he joined his manager in appealing to the home fans to get behind everyone in the claret and blue and help roar them to promotion.

"We are so close to doing something so good and we know they can be a big help," he said.