EDDIE Howe has warned Burnley they must not let their five-star show at Fratton Park go to waste.

The Clarets are back in action tomorrow night, when they host play-off chasing Birmingham City, before playing two fixtures in four days over the Easter period.

And manager Howe has called for a level of consistency to be shown in the final games of the 2011/12 campaign, to prove they mean business next year.

“To score five in any away game is a real feat. We’re delighted with the win, it was long overdue and hopefully it gives us confidence to say that we can challenge,” said the 34-year-old after ending a seven-game winless run against his old club.

“We’ve said all season, it’s consistency. You play like that and we should be higher in the league.

“We’ve got to take it on. We’ve got some tough games between now and the end of the season and it will be a good test for us.

“It’s just trying to put that 90-minute performance together. I don’t think we’ve done it many times this season.

“We’ve had really good phases of play in certain games and then dropped off. That’s the challenge going forward.”

And Howe was satisfied that his side delivered the thrashing he felt they had been threatening for some time.

“I’ve pleased we scored some goals today,” said the Burnley boss, whose side went in level at the break after Kieran Trippier’s opener was cancelled out by David Norris.

Danny Ings headed Burnley back in front 75 seconds into the second half, and the Clarets didn’t look back as substitute Charlie Austin scored a 20-minute hat-trick.

“The lads will be given a big boost by that.

“We’ve been a little bit unfortunate in certain games. We should have beaten Watford and should potentially have beaten West Ham.

“There have been other games in this run that we’ve been on when you think ‘I don’t know how we lost’.

“You add those points up at the end of the season and that could have been the difference between us and the top six. We’ve got to make sure we’re better next year.”