LENNY Johnrose has seized the opportunity with both hands following his return to the Clarets' starting line-up and will continue in midfield against Bristol City tomorrow.

Johnrose had been one of the frustrated supporting cast since injury ruled him out of Burnley's August Bank Holiday defeat at Bristol Rovers.

He had to wait for his chance as the Clarets put together a five-match unbeaten run. But following defeat by Scunthorpe a fortnight ago, manager Stan Ternent shuffled his pack and Johnrose was one of the beneficiares.

The midfielder produced a telling display at Millwall last Saturday and afterwards declared his intention to stay in the side.

"The bottom line is that it's down to me. Obviously the manager picks the team but if I'm performing it makes it a little bit harder for him to leave me out and that's what I intend to do," he said.

The former Bury man followed that up with another solid performance in the mid-week win at Cambridge which lifted the Clarets up to fifth place.

And he will be asked to patrol the left-hand side of midfield again against City at Turf Moor.

Hardly a winger, Johnrose is more reliant on passing, winning plenty of possession for others, helping protect the defence and popping up in the opposition penalty area when the chance arises.

And his strengths are illustrated by the statistics supplied by Opta in comparision with Bristol's left-sided player Brian Tinnion.

Tinnion's renowned left foot has swung over a catalogue of crosses (83) and supplied 433 passes in his 11 matches. Johnrose, who has played for less than half the time of his City rival and more often in a central role, has made just three crosses, although every one has found its target.

But the Burnley man has already chalked up 26 tackles to Tinnion's 15, made 10 blocks to six and completed 22 clearances to Tinnion's 12.

However, it's not all defence for Johnrose, who has made more dribbles and matched Tinnion's solitary goal.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.