IF YOU are the kind of person whose pint is always half full, Burnley are on a run of just two defeats in 14 games - good stuff!

But if you're pint is always half empty, a haul of just two points and two goals from the last four league games gives little cause for confidence - bad news!

Mind you, whether you are an optimist or a pessimist, Saturday's defeat by Sheffield Wednesday was enough to drive the most tee-total of Clarets to drink.

There is an old song, featured in Dennis Potter's series "The Singing Detective", that says "you've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative and don't mess with Mr In-between."

If Stan Ternent is following that ethos there will still be plenty of smiles down at Gawthorpe despite the only win in the last five games coming against Ryman League outfit Canvey Island.

But no matter what way you look at the Wednesday game, there was little positive to take from it.

Burnley played well in the 5-1 defeat at Man City and, even against Wolves, they showed a bit of bottle to steady the ship after going 3-0 down early on.

Sadly, against Wednesday they were often not even second best. In fact the only positive thing that could be said is surely they won't be as poor again this season.

They will certainly need to be better if they are to avoid being the fall guys in a Cup giantkilling story.

One of the oldest cliches in the business is that if you go out of the Cup you can concentrate on what really matters - the league.

Utter nonsense. A defeat at Cheltenham would be another blow to the morale of everyone at Turf Moor, on and off the pitch, and that is why the Clarets will be approaching the match in exactly the same way as if they were facing Manchester United.

Steve Cotterill's side demands respect and it will be given it, in the same way as there was never any question of under estimating Canvey in the last round.

But having clipped the wings of the Gulls, it will be a tougher test to ground the Robins. If they manage it, what price the Magpies in the fifth round.

It is safe to say the local constabulary would rather welcome the Toon Army than Cardiff City's Bluebirds.

No matter what, victory at Whaddon Road can only help the Clarets as they look to fly high in both the Cup and the first division.

That is something everyone can be positive about.