JACK Cork is eager to see Burnley make the most of the superb first half of the season and make it a campaign to remember as the focus switches back to the Premier League.

The Clarets were beaten 4-1 by Manchester City in the FA Cup on Saturday to leave Sean Dyche’s side with only the top flight to concentrate on between now and May.

And, having put themselves in with a chance of European qualification having lost just six of their first 22 games, Cork is determined to see the good work continue.

Ahead of this weekend’s trip to Crystal Palace, Cork said: “We don’t want to waste the start and how hard we’ve worked in the first half of the season, we want to see how far we can push and how far we can go.

“It’s going to be a good time for us to have a week off and reflect on everything, have a good week’s training. It’s been hectic and non-stop recently from one game into the next one.

“We’ve not had a chance to stop, have a look at things and get ready for a game properly. It’s a chance to go and build on what a good first half of the season we have had.”

The Clarets sit on 34 points, just six shy of the 40 mark generally earmarked as a survival guarantee.

And Cork says reaching that target remains the first aim for the Clarets, but is hopeful they can kick on

“It’s been really enjoyable,” Cork said of the league form. “It would be a shame if we don’t build on it now.

“(Our aim) is try and get to 40 points as quickly as possible. I’ve been at clubs before where you set ridiculous targets after a good run and come straight back down to earth with a run of defeats.

“We want to get back to a winning run and go from there.”

And despite coming out on the wrong end of a heavy defeat at the Etihad, Cork believes there were plenty of positives for the Clarets to take from the performance, including the half time lead given to them by Ashley Barnes.

“We managed to hold (the lead) for quite a long time, it was half chances until they got the goal,” the England international added.

“First half we were really good, we come away with a lot of confidence, we’ve done it a lot away from home this season and we’ve stood up to the challenge.

“The lads can take confidence going into the next game.

“We’re limiting teams to half chances and chances outside the box. It’s an example of being hard to break down and being resilience.”