STRIKER Martin Paterson believes he can be a top goalscorer for Burnley – thanks to David Healy.

The 21-year-old has been training alongside the Sunderland striker all week ahead of Northern Ireland’s World Cup qualifying clash in Slovenia.

And Paterson, set to earn his sixth international cap today, says his team-mate is the perfect role model in front of goal.

He said: “Obviously I would like to help out with goals but I don’t think anyone can ever take the heat off David Healy.

“With his record and the run he’s gone on in the last couple of years, he is outstanding and rightfully a legend. His goal record is something I would like to have and I hope I can chip in with my amount of goals.

“Obviously I had seen what he had done for the country before I joined up with the squad for the first time and when I meet up with the squad now I just watch what he does in training and how, when he gets a yard, he sticks the ball in the corner.

“When I go back to my club, I just try to do the same things he does and if you get half-way there then you’ll be okay. I came in thinking he was a great finisher and what I’ve seen has just confirmed that.

“He is a poacher and a goalscorer and I hope I’m the same. We are a bit different as players but we both want to score goals. Whether he’s in the box, or outside the box he looks to get a shot away and more often than not it finds the target.

“He is so positive and that is something I have taken from him and there is no doubt he has made me a better player in the short space of time I’ve been playing for Northern Ireland.”