BURNLEY may have dropped a couple of points against Portsmouth on Saturday but the mood in the camp remains upbeat.

"We have taken a lot of positive things from that performance," said assistant manager Sam Ellis ahead of tonight's clash with Watford at Turf Moor.

"We can go second in the table if we beat Watford but the key thing is to accumulate points and put together an unbeaten run of games.

"The result didn't go our way but we created a lot of chances and sometimes you stick them away."

The Clarets goal came from in-form striker Gareth Taylor and Ellis said: "He is an international player, that is what people have got to remember.

"I think at the moment he is playing as well as he has ever played, this is why the manager has brought him to the club."

While Taylor has hit three goals in the last three games it is now ten matches since his striking partner Ian Moore found the net.

But Ellis is backing the £1million man to start finding the net soon and add to the four goals he got early in the season.

"Ian Moore is still playing a good part for the team," he said. "You look at strikers as a pair and if one of them scores then that means they are doing well."

Tonight's opponents are managed by one of the great strikers of the past decade but Ellis is not concerned whether Gianluca Vialli hung up his boots too soon to start his career in management.

Vialli was only 37 in the summer and Ellis said: "I don't know if it was wrong for such a good player to retire so soon, I was never that good a player.

"I think each individual knows when it's time for them to stop playing."

And while the Hornets have had a slow start under his control, Ellis knows they have got a lot of quality players and will again provide tough opposition for the Clarets.

"They were one of the favourites before the season started," he said, and with a number of players with Premier League pedigree they will be able to examine Burnley's promotion credentials.

Ternent fielded an unchanged side for the game against Pompey as skipper Steve Davis was still suffering with his injured knee.

"We will leave it as late as possible for Steve and then we will take it from there," he said. "But this match has come too soon for Alan Moore.

"It would be very difficult to come straight back into a first team game but he might be okay for the reserve match on Wednesday night. But the manager won't make that decision until after tonight's game."

Moore is battling back to fitness after last month's hernia operation and he has not played for the Clarets since hobbling off at Norwich City in September.

Having made a bright start to his Turf Moor career he is anxious to get back into the fray as the club seeks to continue its challenge near the top of the table.

With no other fixtures arranged for tonight the Clarets know they can go second in the table, a perfect boost ahead of the tricky trip to Coventry City at the weekend.

But Ellis is concentrating on the clash with the Hornets as he said: "We are not looking any further ahead than the next game."