STRAIGHT-talking Burnley skipper Frank Sinclair is urging Michael Ricketts to fill Ade Akinbiyi's huge boots.

On loan Leeds striker Ricketts has scored two goals in four games since Akinbiyi's bank-busting £1.75m move to Sheffield United a month ago.

And Sinclair, who returns to the Burnley side at Coventry today, said: "At the end of the day circumstances sometimes dictate what happens and we just have to get on with it.

"I believe the manager would have liked to keep Ade and carried on with our promotion challenge. But what we've tried to prove since he left is that we are far from a one-man team and that we can carry on playing without him.

"It's been difficult, but we are still adapting to the new formation and Michael has come in and done well.

"He looks to be getting fitter every day and that will make him an even better player. I don't know what will happen with him between now, the end of the season and beyond, but all I know is he has played for England and you don't become a bad player three or four years after winning a cap."