Bristol Rovers v Burnley - Peter White's big match preview

CHRIS Brass has pinpointed the next six weeks as crucial to Burnley's chances of Second Division survival.

Boosted by last Saturday's morale-boosting win over promotion favourites Watford at Turf Moor, Burnley know just how vital it is to put a successful run together.

And the 22-year-old Brass, a regular member of the side all season, believes that the team have what it takes to salvage a very difficult situation.

At least five of the eight League games coming up in that six-week spell are against teams also battling against relegation and, not surprisingly, Brass feels those matches are winnable.

But he also points out - and is backed up by Burnley performances against the likes of Bristol City, Fulham and Watford - that a successful sequence is not impossible against any of the leading clubs either.

"We have always believed we are in a false position," he said. "We just haven't had the rub of the green or worked together as a unit as we did last Saturday.

"But we need to have a steady run and we cannot be satisifed with one point from games. We are going to Bristol and we have to look at winning.

"We have to be positive and why not. We have shown what we can do by beating the leaders."

Burnley face fellow-strugglers Southend, Preston, Wycombe, Brentford and Carlisle over the coming weeks - with a mixture provided by play-off hopefuls Bristol Rovers, York and Wrexham. It promises to be a make-or-break period and Brass admits: "January and February are crucial months and, hopefully, that can be the start of a run where we can get our necks above water and then continue it.

"We had a good run in October and November but then a few results went against us and there was a knock-on effect with the pressure building up again.

"We were struggling to create chances and then struggling to take the ones we made.

"But the whole team played better against Watford and when we got the cushion of a two-goal lead it takes the pressure off."

Andy Cooke, playing up front with player-boss Chris Waddle answered the call for goals against Watford but, of course, he is suspended for the next two matches.

But it is not just scoring goals which has been the problem, Brass underlines the need for the whole team to work together consistently throughout a game.

"I think what has probably been our downfall has been a lack of concentration for the whole 90 minutes.

"We performed for 45 minutes against Bristol City and totally outplayed them but we couldn't maintain it and the result went against us again."

Given that Burnley can maintain the major improvement they showed against Watford, they shouldn't worry too much about looking at the league table, with tomorrow's opponents standing in third place.

As Brass said: "This division has been the same for the last couple of years. "Every team can beat the others, it doesn't matter what position they are in.

"You look at the paper and think 'Crikey' that's a bad result for a particular team, but it happens all the time.

"Any team that has a run of good results over eight or nine games can do well."

One of the major changes made by Waddle this season saw Brass moved from his preferred role in the centre of defence to the right where he often operates as a wing back.

"It's different but I have adapted to it. The manager asked me to try to get into the box more against Watford and I felt more comfortable being positive," he added.

'Positive' is probably the theme that Burnley now need to follow more than any other as they battle for the points they need to stay up.

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