CHRIS McCann has urged Burnley to get over their FA Cup disappointment by piling more pressure on Bolton Wanderers.
The Clarets face their relegation rivals at the Reebok Stadium tomorrow night even more determined to end a winless away run in the Premier League following their fourth round exit at Championship strugglers Reading.
And while the fans’ focus will be getting revenge on former manager Owen Coyle, who controversially quit Turf Moor to join the Trotters just over two weeks ago, McCann insists the players are just focused on the points.
“We’ve got to get the away win. Everybody keeps talking about it but I think if we just keep doing what we’re doing and tighten up a little bit more defensively and concentrate a little bit more I’m sure it will come,” said the 22-year-old, who marked his comeback from a serious knee injury at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday.
“There’s no better game than to do it on Tuesday against Bolton.
“There’s a lot of talk about it but everyone will be revved up for it.
“We’ve got to get a bit of breathing space away from them in the league, so it would be nice to keep them down there and us push up the table and make things a bit more comfortable.
“It’s getting very tight down at the bottom. There’s only two points separating a lot of the teams.
“To give ourselves a bit more breathing space and push teams down like Portsmouth and Bolton - we want to keep them down there as long as possible to give ourselves a bit more breathing space and a realistic chance of staying up.”
While the Premier League is Burnley’s number one priority, manager Brian Laws was hoping to go into tomorrow’s derby on the back of his first win in charge.
Gylfi Sigurdsson’s late winner added to the Clarets’ away day blues, and completed a bitter-sweet day for Dubliner McCann.
Although frustrated to become the Royals’ second consecutive Premier League scalp, after the Royals beat Liverpool in a replay at Anfield to progress, on a personal note the midfielder was delighted to end a four-month injury nightmare with his first game since September.
And while he admitted he was surprised to be told he was playing at right back, he stressed he was just glad to be back in the side.
“It’s a massive hurdle to get 90 minutes under my belt,” he said.
“I played last Tuesday night for the reserves for about 70 minutes and did alright there, but in the back of my mind I knew it wasn’t really a competitive game.
“It’s been a bit frustrating and you get down days, but hopefully I’m over my injury nightmare now and I can get back into the fold.
“I got told on Friday night by the gaffer that I was playing left back.
“I’ve played there once or twice before and I didn’t really mind - as long as you’re in the team you’ve got to do a job.
“I just slotted in there and thought I did alright.
“To get the first competitive game out of the way is a real bonus for me.
"Hopefully I can get back into the squad and start playing a couple more league games.”
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