GORDON Cowans is preaching solidarity as Burnley try to get their Second Division revival act back on the rails at Grimsby tomorrow.

And if a player of Cowans' vast experience doesn't know what it takes to put a club back on the straight and narrow then who does.

Nearly 700 League appearances for nine different clubs - including Italian side Bari and Aston Villa three times - give the Burnley midfielder the equivalent of a masters degree in the game.

Been there, done it, starred in the video, never mind seen it - that's Cowans.

And he has already made a pretty thorough assessment of what's required to get Burnley moving upwards once again.

Perhaps Turf Moor player-boss Chris Waddle knew that he was getting two for the price of one when he encouraged Cowans to take over as reserve team boss.

It has certainly turned out that way, with the midfielder playing a rare game in the Coca-Cola Cup at Stoke before breaking into the League side at the beginning of November and staying there.

Age simply hasn't been a problem, as the passing skills and enthusiasm for football which have always characterised Cowans' approach show no signs of diminishing even at the age of 39.

But he's also his own biggest critic, as well as a realist.

"I am enjoying it here and it's a bonus to be playing," he said. "I came here as reserve team coach and then we picked up a few injuries and suspensions so I've had the opportunity of getting in.

"And he (the manager) has left me in.

"Sooner or later, I am going to go out and that wasn't my best performance by a long way against Millwall.

"Fitness-wise, I still felt okay but I was just giving the ball away too much.

"Losing at home doesn't help morale but, at the same time, you have to get your heads up and get on with it.

"It doesn't do any good to go about moping and sulking. We have a very important game at Grimsby and we have to rally round each other 1- get each other going again.

"We have to make sure we go to Grimsby and come away with something."

If Burnley can show that togetherness, Cowans has no doubt they can recover from two successive League defeats and put their problems behind them.

But he also acknowledges it has to be done one step at a time and the first stage of a revival is to climb clear of the relegation positions.

"By the standards we have been setting, at least over the past month or so, that was a poor performance against Millwall," he said.

"On our day, I think we are equally as good if not better than they are.

"But we have a long way to go at the moment and we must concentrate first on getting away from the bottom of the table.

"Looking at the division, teams beat each other every week. Bottom teams beat those at the top, that's the way the division has been going.

"The thing is to put a run together.

"We had a little run going and now we have to get back to doing that again.

"If we can put two or three wins together we can get away from the foot of the table.

"There's still a long way to go in the season."

With Grimsby just four points ahead of Burnley in the table, important ground could be won, or conceded, at Blundell Park tomorrow.

Many people quote Stockport as an example of how a team can recover from an awful start and even go on to win promotion.

But, even though they took just two points from their first six games, they were far better placed at this stage last season - with 27 - than Burnley are at the moment.

That underlines Cowans' commonsense theory of taking one step at a time and, before Burnley start to look higher, they must make it the priority to put daylight between themselves and the bottom teams.

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