BURNLEY boss Steve Cotterill plans to alternate goalkeepers Danny Coyne and Brian Jensen for the rest of the season.

Welsh number one Coyne started his first game since October 30 in last night's 1-0 home defeat to West Ham, which finally extinguished all hopes of the Clarets sneaking into the play-off picture.

And with one eye on next season, Cotterill has decided that both keepers will now share duties in the remaining six games.

He revealed: "I am going to alternate the pair of them between now and the end of the season.

"Before last Saturday's game I said to Danny that we had eight games left and I was going to use four for him and four for Brian.

"They have both had long periods where they have been sat on the bench this seasonand I don't think there is a lot to choose between them with the form they have been in."

Asked if he was throwing the gauntlet down to both men, Cotterill replied: "Maybe, but it does mean we can have a little look at things for next year.

"If someone asked you to put your hand on your heart at the moment and say who was the best keeper, you would find it hard, so we'll have a look at things and keep them both ticking over."

John Oster's bad back pass seven minutes from time allowed evergreen striker Teddy Sheringham to snatch all three points for the Hammers in a game that looked to be petering out into a stalemate.

And the timing was cruel as Cotterill was preparing substitute Jean-Louis Valois to replace Oster when the wide man made the costly error.

Cotterill, who also lost skipper Frank Sinclair with a calf injury, insisted: "I didn't take John off because of the goal. I wouldn't do that to someone.

"It was a change we had planned and I didn't actually see the goal. The last time I saw the ball it was in Danny Coyne's hands and when I looked again it was in the back of our net. "We shot ourselves in the foot because there wasn't a goal in the game and, without us playing well, it had 0-0 written all over it.

"At the end of the day, drawing with West Ham would have been a good result for us, but we didn't do enough.

"We had too many players below par and that doesn't go with the team performance we had last Saturday."

The defeat leaves Burnley 12 points off the play-off pace and Cotterill admitted: "The play-offs has always been in other people's hands.

"But we are talking about a team that has gone from 19th (last season) and potentially going bankrupt, to having that cup run and talking about the play-offs.

"Maybe it's just too much to talk about in one breath."