SAM Vokes says Burnley are in the hunt for the play-offs, after starting 2013 with three Championship wins on the spin.

The striker scored the first as the Clarets ran out 2-0 winners at Millwall, a result which lifted them to seventh in the table on Saturday.

Danny Ings completed the scoreline with his second of the season in the second half, while Sean Dyche’s side resisted spells of pressure from the Lions to cap a positive performance with a third straight league clean sheet, and fourth in five Championship games.

Burnley are four points off sixth place, after Watford’s 4-0 win over Huddersfield, but Vokes admits their 100 per cent start to the new year has fuelled their top six ambitions.

“We’re pushing. We’ve got the groundwork there to carry it on to the end of the season. We look stronger with every performance and to go to places like Millwall without fear is a good sign,” said the Wales international.

“It was a very strong performance. It was a cold day and a tough place to go to with a hostile atmosphere, but I think the boys stepped up to it and we deserved the three points.

“We’d started strong.

“It was a great 90 minutes. We started off strong. Coming to a place like Millwall we had to get in their faces early doors and we did that and it paid off with the goal that we got, and we kept it going really.

“They put a bit of pressure on in the second half but we showed the spirit in the lads to keep strong and get the win.

“We’re pushing, we’re seventh in the league. Who knows where we can go. It’s a good run that we’re on.”

Burnley have scored five in their last three Championship, without reply, and Vokes admitted their recent run is encouraging confidence.

“I think we feel it. The spirit in the camp’s pretty high at the moment with our third win in the league on the bounce.

“We come to these sorts of places without fear at the moment and getting our just rewards,” said the striker, who admitted his goal made amends for the chances he missed in the previous weekend’s win over Crystal Palace.

“It does, just about,” he said.

“We still managed to get the win last week but for me it was obviously frustrating not to get on the scoresheet, but that made up for it.

“You do get frustrated, as a striker you want to be scoring goals, so it was good for me to get that one.”

It was Vokes’ first goal since coming into the starting line-up for the injured Charlie Austin, but the 23-year-old hopes he has done enough to keep his place in the side when the top scorer is fit to return.

“He’s had a great start to the season. Personally all I can do is knock on the door and hopefully get a chance when he comes back,” he said.

“You’ve got to try to impress when you get out on the pitch and hopefully I’ve taken that.

“I’d love to play alongside him. He’s a striker who plays off the shoulder so I think we could work together.

“It depends on what we play and who we play, but him coming back will just make the squad even stronger.”