CLARETS legend Steve Davis knows a thing or two about defending.

With close to 400 appearances for the club under his belt, who better to judge a centre half?

So when Davis insists that Michael Duff has a big future ahead of him at Turf Moor, it's time to sit up and listen.

Duff has found himself anchored in his preferred position in the last two games following injuries to first choice pairing Frank Sinclair and John McGreal.

That has given Clarets fans a tantalising glimpse of his future role with a majestic performance at Stoke and in Friday night's victory over Norwich City, when he recovered from a shaky start to help the Clarets to a first clean sheet in seven games and three badly needed points.

And Davis believes the Northern Ireland international has all the attributes to make the position his own in the coming years.

"Michael has been outstanding," said Davis, who these days has a watching brief as Burnley's first team coach.

"He is good in the air, he attacks the ball well and he makes the right decisions, which all good defenders do. He's a big strong lad and I think the main strength, as it is with most great centre halves, is that he attacks the ball in the air.

"He's done very well given the chance and I think he's got everything needed to fill that role.

"The opportunity to play there has come through injuries and suspensions and if you've got that shirt and you're performing, especially when the squad is getting bigger and stronger, you're going to keep it.

"I think Michael's had that in his mind and he's put in some great performances recently."

It is easy to assume that Duff is still a rookie learning his trade. However, the Belfast-born 27-year-old, who honed his talents under Steve Cotterill at Cheltenham, already has well over 300 career appearances to his name - not to mention international caps.

"People forget Michael is not a kid any more," said Davis.

"He's an experienced player with international experience and sometimes it's just a word in the ear to help them along.

"That's where I feel I can help him and hopefully that bit of experience I can impart will help him get through the games making the right decisions."

For Davis, tonight's game is sure to bring back memories of his early career on the south coast, where he was nurtured at Southampton by youth coach and former Claret Dave Merrington.

At 21, Davis embarked on an illustrious career with the Clarets despite having no league experience. Three spells and 15 years later, he had gone down as arguably the club's most accomplished all-round player of the 1990s - at one stage holding the record outgoing and incoming transfer fees.

Only last year, Davis rejoined the club in a scouting capacity, only to be catapulted into Cotterill's immediate backroom team in the New Year when Mark Yates was appointed manager of Kidderminster.

He said: ""It's been fantastic and I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm just hoping to have an impact on the club and put my little bit in to help the cause and help move the club forward.

"You're constantly picking away at what you can do to try and improve things and the recent bad run we had has been an experience.

"But people say you've got to go through bad times to enjoy the good, and certainly when you've had a run like that, when you get a result like Norwich last Friday it makes it sweeter.

"But one win isn't enough after the run we've been on and the game against Southampton is a great chance to continue the good form and hopefully get on a little bit of a run."