IF Burnley are awarded a penalty at Millwall tomorrow, Chris Eagles admits he will face something of a dilemma.

With regular penalty taker Graham Alexander left out of the side against Hull in midweek, it was Eagles who stepped up to slam home a second-half spot kick – even if he first had to wrestle the ball away from centre back Andre Bikey.

Should Alexander be recalled tomorrow, most would expect him to regain the penalty duties once more after scoring 18 out of 19 during his time at Burnley.

But the one miss did come in Saturday’s 0-0 draw at home to Bristol City and Eagles says he would like to continue the role, although respect for his club captain may mean he stands aside.

“I’d like to take one on Saturday but it’s going to be a hard one,” said Eagles, whose only other spot kick for Burnley proved successful in the famous shoot-out win at Chelsea.

“If Grezza plays and there’s a penalty I don’t know what’s going to happen.

“If he wants it I’ll give it to him because of the respect. You can’t just drop him because he’s missed one, look at how many he’s scored.

“But I will say something if there’s a penalty! I was proud to take it on Tuesday and score.

“Andre wasn’t going to take it, he always does that!

“He does it with free kicks too. He jokes about it but he’s never going to do it. If you said, ‘Yes, go on’, he would say, ‘No, no, you take it!’”

The Clarets are now fifth in the table but have won just once in their last 26 away games in the league.

Eagles, though, is hopeful that run will end against promoted Millwall, with the 24-year-old keen to hunt down the Championship’s runaway leaders QPR – currently eight points ahead of the Clarets.

“Getting back into the Premier League is the main aim,” he said.

“It’s not even to get into the top six, it’s to get into the top two.

“The ones I’m concentrating on are QPR, because they look very good. I think we’ve got them next month (at Loftus Road on October 30) and we can’t let them start stretching that gap.

“The main game will be against them because that will really narrow it down.”

Eagles commenced the season on the bench because of uncertainty over his future but has started the last five matches after signing a new two-year deal.

The winger has been in and out of the side at times since joining Burnley, but believes he is maturing as a player.

“I like a strop, so when I’ve been left out in the past I have a strop for a couple of hours, but then I just get back on the field and let my football do the talking,” he said.

“I’m glad to repay the manager’s faith for wanting to keep me. He came in last year and with the position we were in I didn’t play because I think he thought I was too attacking.

“People in the past have said I don’t defend. I do defend, it’s just that sometimes I overdo it “It’s not the fact I can’t or because I’m lazy. It’s just that sometimes I don’t think I have to do it, but clearly everyone is not happy until you do. So that’s why I’m doing it now.”