IN-FORM Burnley can destroy Brentford's 16-month unbeaten league home run tomorrow, writes TONY DEWHURST.

That is the brave prediction from Clarets manager Adrian Heath as Burnley face the Division Two leaders at fortress Griffin Park.

Remarkably, the Bees have not lost a league match at their West London base since December 1995.

But that holds no fears for Heath whose Burnley side are firmly back on the promotion track with a five-game unbeaten run under their belts.

"I know we can go down to Brentford and win - I have absolutely no doubt about that," predicted Heath.

"We are playing well enough to beat anyone in this division - home or away.

"The first 10 minutes will be crucial because Brentford try and bomb you into submission.

"If we attack as well as we did at Blackpool and defend with the same sort of discipline as at Wrexham, then we will win.

"All of a sudden we are only three points behind the second club (Luton) and nobody inside the top six is showing explosive form. This could be just the time for us to make our move."

Heath, not surprisingly, was keeping his line-up under wraps for one of Burnley's most crucial Division Two fixtures of the campaign.

The manager may consider the option of deploying one man up front - Paul Barnes - as he did at Wrexham and flood the midfield.

"I'm not going to discuss who will be lining up but we are going down there full of confidence and belief," added Heath. "There is a terrific game in prospect and I think it is a good time to be playing Brentford.

"They've had a couple of poor results while we are on a high after the 5-0 win over Peterborough.

"I think the tension may be getting to them a little bit and we want to try and take advantage of that."

Heath has ruled David Eyres out of his plans for the weekend with the left-sided wing-back still struggling to shake off a knee injury.

But defender Peter Swan, with two second string games under his belt this week, is added to Heath's squad, along with Gerry Harrison.

Tomorrow kick-starts a string of key games for the Clarets. Burnley go to promotion contenders Walsall next week with Luton Town the visitors to Turf Moor on Easter Saturday.

"It is a very important period for us and the next month is likely to determine our promotion ambitions," added Heath.

"But I'm very confident that we can go and do a job tomorrow. A result would really set us up for a big push for honours."

Burnley from: Beresford, Parkinson, Smith, Brass, Swan, Winstanley, Matthew, Weller, Cooke, Barnes, Thompson, Swan, Harrison, Vinnicombe, Little.

Brentford from: Dearden, Hutchings, Anderson, Ashby, Bates, McGhee, McPherson, Smith, Bent, Slade, Taylor, Hurdle, Statham, Fernandes.

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