BURNLEY battler Lennie Johnrose plans to push his injury nightmare even further into history with a starring role at top-six rivals Birmingham City tomorrow.

The tough-tackling midfielder was injured on the eve of the new campaign when he damaged a knee in the Clarets final pre-season friendly at Rochdale.

Johnrose then spent the best part of two months on the sidelines before making his return to the first-team squad as a substitute against Portsmouth nine games ago.

And his chance of a first start of the season finally came last week following an injury to Paul Cook and having helped Burnley to a 2-0 win over Sheffield United, Johnrose is expected to continue on the left-hand side of midfield at St Andrews.

He admitted that he couldn't have had a worse start to the season but is determined to seize his opportunity.

Johnrose said: "The injury happened the week before the season so I was out of it really, although the atmosphere around the club and being on the bench for the last few weeks has made me feel part of things.

"You can't have any complaints at not being in the side if the team is winning, which it had been week-in, week-out. "On a personal level it's a bit frustrating but it's great for the team.

"I wasn't sure I was playing last week until a quarter-to-two but having played now I hope to stay in the side.

"I felt I did okay. I would have liked to have been a bit sharper but hopefully that will come with a few more games."

Johnrose isn't taking his selection for granted but knows that Burnley will have to dig deep to keep their impressive away form going against fifth-placed City, who have won seven of their nine home games to date and attracted a gate of over 20,000 for the visit of Bolton a fortnight ago.

He added: "Birmingham are a big club. I played against their reserves earlier this season when they had a strong side and I would imagine their first team will be even stronger.

"We need to go down there, try and and keep them quiet for the first 20 minutes or so and then hopefully get something.

"No disrespect to anyone we played last season but we are going to better grounds with great atmosphere and this is what it's all about."

Burnley have climbed to fourth in the table on the back of just one defeat in 11 League games and a positive result at St Andrews would send out a message to the rest of the division.

"We are a bit of a surprise package, similar to Preston.

"Both of us are around the top half-dozen and perhaps if we can maintain that sort of consistency and form maybe people will start taking a bit of notice of us. The players deserve some recognition," said manager Stan Ternent, who will again be without Cook and has to decide whether to start with Glen Little.

For the second season running the Clarets have put themselves among the pacesetters and Ternent conceded "anything's possible."

However, with just two points separating six places below the Clarets he added: "We have only played 17 games, a third of the season. Thirty-two points will get you relegated so we need a whole more than that."

Burnley from: Michopoulos, Weller, Briscoe, Thomas, Cox, Davis, Mellon, Ball, Johnrose, Payton, Branch, Little, Jepson, Mullin, Cooke, Robinson, Armstrong, Crichton.

Birmingham from: Bennett, Edghill, Purse, Holdsworth, M Johnson, Grainger, Eaden, Hughes, O'Connor, Adebola, Burchill, Lazaridis, Horsfield, Burrows, Hyde, A Johnson, Ndlovu, Poole.