STAN TERNENT is ready and willing to splash the cash to drive home the advantage his table-topping side has earned itself.

The in-form Clarets temporarily enjoyed a seven point cushion at the top of the table on Saturday night but that was cut to four after wins yesterday for both Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

But this is still the strongest position the club has been in for a quarter of a century and Ternent does not want to waste it.

"If I can strengthen the squad that is what I intend to do," he promised. "We are in a position that warrants that and we have got to have a go if possible.

"Adding two or three players will be very important over the next 22 games. I know if the board has got the money they will give it to me."

Clarets chairman Barry Kilby said last week that he is ready to back the manager who has got his club to within sight of the Premier League on very little money.

Since the start of the season only Tony Grant has been added to the squad, a £250,000 bargain from Manchester City, while John Mullin has been sold and the experienced duo of Paul Cook and Andy Payton have been allowed to go out on loan.

At the same time big spending rivals at the top of the table have been bringing in players with great regularity. And yesterday's match at Maine Road illustrated the gulf in resources that Ternent has to deal with when Blues boss Kevin Keegan introduced internationals Paulo Wanchope, Alfie Haaland and Paul Ritchie as second half substitutes.

The desire to strengthen does not reflect dissatisfaction with his current squad, far from it as he again praised his players after the battling defeat of Stockport County.

"This is a learning curve and the players have coped particularly well with things," he said. "We had some hairy moments against Stockport but we got away with it.

"We have got Millwall next week, they won on Thursday and they are up there. It will be difficult but all games are difficult."

But Ternent's hope of bringing new faces in is an acknowledgement that players will be lost to injury and suspension and the only poor patch of this season coincided with the absence of two key men, wingers Glen Little and Alan Moore.

"We got one or two knocks against County and I had six players not available for one reason or another," he said.

Ternent was recently unsuccessful in his attempt to bring Bradford's Robbie Blake to Turf Moor but he has identitfied several other possible additions to his squad.