PAUL Smith is bidding to make it third time lucky by burying the injury jinx which has ruined his last two seasons.

The Clarets winger has made just 25 League appearances in the past two years because of a combination of knee, ankle and foot problems.

But having made a quicker-than-expected return to action in the reserves last night, Smith is setting his sights on getting it right next term.

"It's been awful for the past two years but I will say it again 'I'll start next season and hopefully it will be alright,'" he said.

"It was different class to be back. I have been out for six months and sitting watching games is an absolute killer.

"That's true for any professional I think. People just don't realise how hard it is for professionals to watch games and I am just happy to get back training and playing."

Smith signed a new three-year contract when Stan Ternent took charge at Turf Moor last summer.

And when he started 13 of the first 16 games of the campaign, it looked as though the former Clarets trainee was on his way back to the status he had enjoyed when bursting onto the scene under Adrian Heath.

But an injury in October dashed his hopes again and the 23-year-old had surgery on both knees.

"For the first two months it was hard to get my head round the fact that I couldn't play again this season," Smith added.

"But I seem to have made quite a bit of progress over the last two or three months. I spoke to the specialist and the physio Paul Lake and he said look to get half a game in before the end of the season. "Now I have played half a game for the 'A' team and 60 minutes last night so I am looking to improve on that.

"I thought I would be starting training in pre-season but I have started now so I will be training through the summer and touch wood I'll be back flying for pre-season."

Smith admitted to being "shattered" but pleased after last night's run-out in the reserves' 0-0 draw at Bolton when he went close to breaking the deadlock with a header which hit the post.

"I thought at half-time I might get through the second half but I hit the wall at about 60 minutes so I decided to call it a day while I was ahead.

"I was pleased to get an hour in. The manager told me to try and get 45 minutes to an hour in so I pushed myself to the limit," added Smith, whose spirits have also been lifted by the senior team's surge away from relegation danger.

"It was a bit hard six games ago when people were saying the team was going to go down but all the lads have performed well.

"And hopefully if we get a point or three from the next two or three games we will stay up and I'll be back in the Second Division."

Burnley slipped four places to 19th in the table last night as Bristol Rovers, Colchester, Notts County and York all won.

However, the Clarets remain five points clear of the bottom four and have a game in hand over four of the sides who are within two points of them.

And County's win over Wycombe will be welcome at Turf Moor as Lawrie Sanchez's side are now six points adrift of the Clarets, having scored four goals fewer, with three games to play. Lincoln and Macclesfield are as good as down after they lost last night and Northampton or Oldham now look the most likely to contest the other two relegation places with Wycombe.

Last night's Second Division results: Bristol R 3 Millwall 0, Colchester 2 Bournemouth 1, Luton 1 Chesterfield 0, Macclesfield 1 Stoke 2, Notts County 1 Wycombe 0, Wigan 3 Lincoln City 1, York 1 Blackpool 0.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.