GARETH Taylor is unlikely to figure in any dream team Manchester City fans would draw up but he will be hoping to go back and haunt them tomorrow.

The Wales international was allowed to leave Maine Road on a free transfer in the summer and he is proving to be a typically astute acquisition by Clarets boss Stan Ternent.

He gave the Turf Moor fans a glimpse of what he could do when he moved to Burnley on loan from City at the end of last season when he netted four times in 15 games.

But he has been increasingly impressive throughout this campaign and now has nine goals to his credit.

Taylor's first goal for the Clarets was a shot that secured victory at Watford in March but since then every time he has found the net it has been with his head.

This season he has headed home nine times with the supply of crosses coming from a variety of colleagues down both flanks.

Paul Cook may be on loan at Wigan but with the likes of Glen Little, Dean West, Alan Moore and Lee Briscoe in the side there are still plenty of players prepared to get the ball in the box.

Taylor's current hot streak runs to six goals in his last eight starts and only a controversial decision by the referee denied him a goal after coming on as a second half substitute in the Lancashire derby against Preston North End at Deepdale. Ironically that effort was not with his head.

The 28-year-old striker started his career at Bristol Rovers, not far from his home town of Weston-Super-Mare. Initially he was a centre half but his career started to blossom when he was played up front.

From Rovers he moved to Selhurst Park and a short career with Crystal Palace before a more successful spell at Sheffield United.

In 1996-97 he netted 12 league goals, equalling his best ever total for a season, and a couple of seasons later it was Joe Royle who took him to Maine Road.

He scored nine goals in 43 league games for City but we never played in the first team in the Premiership last season. Before joining Burnley on loan he had also been farmed out to Port Vale and Queens Park Rangers, a clear sign that his Maine Road days were numbered.

But the likeable target man has blossomed in partnership alongside Ian Moore this season and while he cannot match the prolific strike rate of City's Shaun Goater he has been a key figure in the Clarets success to date this campaign.

Any player likes to score against his former club and Moore did just that in the recent match against Stockport County.

Taylor did net when the Blades visited Turf Moor this season and so he will welcome the chance to put one over on his old team mates.

But he is not too worried about settling old scores, he just wants to make sure that the Clarets keep gathering points as they prepare to celebrate New Year's Day on top of the table.