STAN Ternent is refusing to get carried away by Burnley's latest purple patch.

The Clarets extended their unbeaten run to four games with victory over high-flying Sheffield United to capitalise on similarly impressive points gained against play-off chasing Reading and Sunderland.

But the Burnley boss insists he is still keeping one eye on the opposite end of the table after reiterating that survival remains his number one target.

Ternent said: "I'll be happy if we stay out of the bottom three, never mind the play-offs. I know the situation here at Burnley and it is not, repeat not, good from a manager's point of view.

"Nobody twists my arm up my back to do the job, but any talk of play-offs is pie in the sky and no-one should kid themselves or be under any illusions that this squad is not strong enough, in my view, to be up there challenging.

"I don't want to dampen the supporters enthusiasm because people are being encouraged to support Burnley. We will be entertaining, but I still don't want them to be under any illusion of where we are up to.

"As far as I'm concerned, if I can get through this year and keep us in the First Division, then maybe we can expect more."

Ternent's comments are backed up by the fact that every player at his disposal, including just four substitutes, were again on duty against the Blades.

He added: "If I can get my best team out all the time and they play to their capabilities all the time, we will be okay. But that isn't going to happen and when it does you need to be able to replace three players.

"Against Sheffield, I had Dean West on the line along with Paul Weller, who is coming back from injury, and young Matt O'Neill and Joel Pilkington.

"That's it and that's the fact of football life at Burnley Football Club at present. But nobody is crying about it, we are just getting on with it.

"My squad isn't big enough in depth, but there's not an outstanding side in this division in my view and anyone can beat anyone else on their day."

The Clarets camp will rightly feel cock-a-hoop at beating Neil Warnock's side in a classic Turf Moor clash thanks to a Robbie Blake brace and Ian Moore's deft header.

And despite a few flutters in a nervy second half, Ternent declared himself delighted after his side extended their unbeaten home run to seven games. stretching back to mid-September.

Ternent added: "All in all I'm happy, but certainly we can improve because we got a little jittery towards the end when ball retention was poor and we were booting it all over the gaff.

"We can do better than that, but the bottom line is that we got three points against a very good team and it was a good team effort.

"I needed to change it at half time because they had a solid four in the middle of the park and Glen (Little) and Luke (Chadwick) were playing on on the outside and finding it hard work.

"Going forward it was fine, but the other way it was difficult, and Luke was feeling his calf and his toe, so I decided to put Weller on.

"He jarred his knee, so I then had to put West on. If it had gone on much longer we might all have got a game!"