ROSS Wallace wants to end his own goal drought after saying that Burnley need their midfielders to near double figures this season if they are to capitalise on the form of Charlie Austin.
Austin is the top scorer in all four divisions this season after netting 10 goals in his first nine games of the campaign but the Clarets still lie only 16th in the Championship table ahead of tomorrow’s home game against Millwall.
Much of that has been down to vulnerability in defence, which was a major factor in Tuesday’s Capital One Cup defeat at League One side Swindon, but Austin’s seven league goals also make up more than 50 per cent of the club’s tally this season.
Winger Junior Stanislas has netted twice after failing to get off the mark for Burnley last season, while midfielders Dean Marney and Chris McCann have both scored once in the league.
But, unusually for the Scot, Wallace has not found the net since the defeat at Bristol City last November and wants to contribute with goals as well as assists.
“I love scoring and I try to score in every game,” he said.
“I just want to consistently keep trying to do the right things and get in the right positions, and things will come.
“To be fair Charlie’s been magnificent and that’s his job, he’s paid to score goals. He’s banging them in and doing very well.
“With the service from the midfield players and from Tripps (Kieran Trippier) bombing on as well, I think Charlie’s had a lot of chances to score.
“If Charlie’s not the top goalscorer at the end of the season he’ll be disappointed himself. He’s a clinical finisher.
“But we’ve been working on scoring goals from midfield in training . Junior has got a couple this year as well, Chris McCann has scored and Deano, so it’s up to us to start chipping in.
“Come the end of the season if the midfielders are touching seven, eight or nine goals then that’s plenty for a midfield - we’ve got Charlie up front and Pato (Martin Paterson) as well.”
The Clarets have won five and lost five in all competitions this season and are aiming to finally rid themselves of the inconsistency that has blighted them for so long.
Wallace has previously been part of consistent sides at Celtic, Sunderland and Preston but insisted there is no great secret to producing results week in, week out.
“There’s no key ingredient, it’s just hard work, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
“It’s about having good players, that’s the key - having good players and working hard, and getting a bit of luck along the way.
“I believe you make your own luck in this game and I think as the season goes on we’ve got the quality.
“We just have to knuckle down and defensively we need to be better - not only the defence but midfield and strikers, we need to help the defence by pressurising teams.
“As the season goes on I think we’ll do well.
“We had a disappointing result when we never really performed against Swindon. We never performed but we did have chances. We just need to crack on with the league.
“Inconsistency is frustrating in a way but you look at the quality of our squad we just have to get the team together again and rally the boys.
“We’ve got the quality, it’s just a case of get the games coming thick and fast, and let’s go at it.
“We need a little spell now like last year when we went on a run.
“We need one of them pretty sharpish to give ourselves a chance to push up the league.”
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