IF you’re called Danny and wear the number 9 shirt for England, then the last few days must have felt pretty good.

Naturally, the national focus has centred on Danny Welbeck.

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The Arsenal striker’s double against Slovenia on Saturday evening applied a badly needed coat of gloss to a somewhat laboured England performance, which nonetheless saw England tighten their stranglehold on Group E in what has become an increasingly dreary and predictable procession towards qualification for Euro 2016.

Of much more interest, at least locally, were the goal-scoring exploits of the other Danny.

Ings’ brace against Portugal’s Under-21s at Turf Moor last week was heartening to behold.

And if there’s any truth in that well-worn football cliché about good players coming alive in the penalty area, then the 22 year-old very much looked to belong in that category.

For his first goal, both the timing of his run, which bisected two Portuguese defenders, and his clinical one-touch conversion of Tom Ince’s near-post cross were excellent.

His second strike might have been less eye-catching but the knack of being in the right place at the right time is a happy one for a striker to have.

And that’s exactly where he was when Nathan Redmond pulled the ball back across goal.

Okay, so the standard of defending might have been a few notches down from that encountered in the Premier League. But goals are goals, and finding the back of the net will have done his confidence the power of good.

Of course, no discussion centring on Danny Ings is complete without reference to his contract situation.

Only a couple of weeks ago, Sean Dyche insisted that talks to extend his Turf Moor stay were still ongoing, although the lack of positive noises emerging from either club or player does not suggest any agreement is imminent.

The assumption amongst many supporters seems to be that Ings will leave in the summer, albeit not for nothing as the Clarets would be entitled to compensation.

Yet for such a scenario to unfold, the player stills needs to provide evidence that he can really cut it at this level.

The striker has had a stop-start campaign so far – not least due to his injury at Crystal Palace which ruled him out for three games – and his goal against Everton has been his one and only so far at this level.

How Ings performs over the coming months will go a long way to determining both his and Burnley’s future.