Clarets striker Andy Cooke suffered an injury scare ahead of Saturday's top-of-the-table clash at Wigan as he lasted only 45 minutes of Burnley's goalless draw at Reading last night.

Cooke picked up a calf knock and will now face treatment in a bid to get him fit for the Clarets' trip to the JJB Stadium to take on the unbeaten Second Division leaders.

However, manager Stan Ternent is optimistic that one of his key men will recover in time as Burnley bid to close a gap that stands at five points after a dour stalemate at the Majedski Stadium.

Ternent said: "Cookie got a kick on his calf and it tightened up on him so I took him off as a precaution and put Graham Branch on because we have another game in two days.

"I'm hopeful. We'll see what happens but there are plenty of lads champing at the bit."

Branch looks to have found his feet as a Burnley player now and Alan Lee also produced a spirited burst as a late substitute against the Royals.

However, Ternent will have his fingers crossed that five-goal striker Cooke is able to face a Wigan side with the only unbeaten League record in the country.

"It would be nice if it went on Saturday.

"But they are a very good side. John Benson has done a fantastic job there so it will be a good test for us," Ternent added.

The Clarets will go to Wigan with a record of just one defeat in seven League games and in third place in the table thanks to last night's result.

However, Ternent acknowledged that they will have to play better than they did in securing a fifth away draw of the campaign against a Reading side struggling near the bottom four.

"It was a below-par performance," admitted the Clarets chief. "They were well aware of that and I'm sure they will bounce back.

"They're doing very well and I'm really pleased with them to be fair. We didn't do anything wrong. It was just that the tempo of the game was below the standards that we normally play at."

And Ternent wasn't too disappointed with the outcome as his side stayed in the thick of the promotion action.

He added: "We didn't play as well as we have been playing, certainly not in the first half. In the second half we did a little better. We had a few chances and they never really troubled us.

"By the standards we have set ourselves, we were a little disappointing. But nevertheless we've got a point, we haven't lost and I suppose that's a good result away from home.

"The game never really settled down. If anyone was going to win the match I think it was going to be us. We had a couple of good chances at the end from free-kicks and we didn't take advantage of it.

"But it was a good point without playing as well as we can do."

With Burnley receiving an extra 500 tickets from Wigan, they should have approaching 5,000 supporters behind them on Saturday. Ternent praised the fans that made it to Reading and is looking forward to more vocal backing at the weekend.

He said: "We get fantastic support. You saw it again last night. They went all the way down there and again on Saturday it will be a sell-out so it's a good game to look forward to."

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