HAVING been two minutes away from reaching last season’s Carling Cup final, Burnley have set themselves a tough act to follow this time around.

Tonight’s trip to League One Hartlepool United throws up a potential banana skin at the first hurdle.

But whatever happens this year the competition will always have a special place in Clarets’ hearts, after an unlikely fourth round win at Chelsea less than 10 months ago proved an early catalyst in their promotion-winning campaign.

Owen Coyle’s men had mounted a recovery from a disastrous start to the season when they were handed a trip to Stamford Bridge in November as reward for beating Fulham.

A day out in the capital, mixing it with West End millionaires and Russian billionaires, became a night to remember when Ade Akinbiyi crashed in an equaliser in front of 6,000 delirious travelling fans, and Brian Jensen proved unbeatable for Wayne Bridge and John Obi Mikel in the penalty shoot-out.

“When we came back we said to ourselves if we can get a result at Chelsea then we can get a result pretty much anywhere if we apply ourselves properly,” said Wade Elliott, who has since made up for a spot kick miss that night by scoring the goal that shot Burnley into the Premier League, as well as Sunday’s winner against Everton.

“We’ve shown if we do what we’re good at we’ve got the capability to get results. The gaffer’s keen to let us know we’ve set our benchmark and if we drop below it he’ll be quick to make sure we raise our standards again.”

Burnley return to Stamford Bridge on Saturday to compete for precious league points.

“It’s what we’ve all strived for, to go to places like Chelsea and play against the very best,” said Elliott.

But for now the Clarets’ attentions focus on the north east rather than the south east, and rekindling their love affair with the League Cup.

“We don’t want to be dismissive of it because we had a great time in the Carling Cup last year and that was key to our season,” he added.