BURNLEY are hoping a sunshine break will enable them them to turn up the heat on their play off rivals over the coming months.

The Clarets fly out to a mystery southern European location for a week following today's red-hot Lancashire derby with Preston North End at Turf Moor.

A similar break in Cyprus last year, following just one win in ten games, saw Steve Cotterill's side return revitalised to to thrash Watford 3-1.

And while many of their Championship rivals gear up for FA Cup fourth round ties next weekend, the Clarets will hope that better weather and some relaxed, warm weather training can banish the winter blues and kick-start a similar upturn in fortunes.

"It's purely a change of scenery and a change of environment at a nice time," insisted assistant manager Dave Kevan.

"Ever since we came back from Austria in pre-season we have been at it constantly so this is a little refresher for everyone really. Hopefully the weather will be a little more pleasant than back in the UK and we can do different types of training.

"It's not exactly a mini pre-season because there is a break involved but hopefully it helps to freshen things up and ensure we can kick on until the end of the season on April 30."

Burnley had a similar winter break planned last season before their memorable FA Cup third round victory over Liverpool set up a fourth round tie with Bournemouth and a last-minute change of plans.

The Clarets finally squeezed in a week of sunshine in late March, but Kevan reckons the timing of this year's training trip will be more beneficial to the squad.

He explained: "Last year we had the added complications of the FA Cup and although we would much rather be playing in the fourth round next weekend, this is a better time to have a break than the opportunity we squeezed in last year.

"Four games in eight days over Christmas was really heavy going for any group of players, let alone such a small squad.

"We were quite pleased with our level of performance over that tough period, even though we weren't totally happy with the points.

"But this gives us a nice opportunity to reflect a little bit and maybe pinpoint areas where we feel can improve."