CLARETS goal machine Andy Payton has set his sights on a career-best tally after his match-winning brace yesterday gave him 20 for the season.

More importantly Payton's two late strikes earned Burnley a 3-1 win over Colchester which took them five points clear of the Second Division's bottom four.

But as with any goalscorer, personal targets are also a major incentive and after emerging from a 10-game barren spell with three goals in three games, Payton is gunning for more.

He said: "Obviously at the start of the season you aim for 20 so I'm pleased to get there with a few games to go.

"The highest I have ever got is 25 in the First Division with Hull so I want to beat that and get as many goals as I can."

Another milestone would be 20 League goals for the season but Payton, who needs three more for that, isn't choosy where they go in.

"Twenty goals is 20 goals," he insisted. "If you score in the FA Cup that's as important as a League goal really but I just want to keep going and get as many as possible.

"The main thing is that we get some points but from my own point of view I hope that I can get some goals to keep us safe." Payton is on target to do that for a second season running with Burnley's escape bid gaining pace at a critical time.

"Wins breed confidence, it's as simple as that. When you're winning you get a winning feeling," he added.

"We have picked up seven points from the last nine and we can go to Oldham on Saturday with all guns blazing. You can feel the confidence throughout the side.

"It's going to be hard but I think we can go there and get a result. We haven't picked up two wins on the spin so hopefully we can go up there and put that record straight. The gaffer has pointed out straight away that we need another three wins which we all know.

"We are not getting carried away but you tend to feel more confident when you come in having picked up points so there's a lot better feeling in the camp now because of the points we've picked up recently."

Burnley left it late yesterday but Payton was adamant that they were full value for all three points.

"I thought we deservedly won it," he said. "They scored a world-class goal against the run of play but we had loads of chances and were all over them in the first half without being able to score.

"In the second half we were all over them again and missed a few chances and it looked like we weren't going to get there but we kept plugging away.

"Obviously the man getting sent off helped and I think we thoroughly deserved to win."

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