STAN Ternent is backing his players to rescue Burnley's season - starting with Sunday's televised Turf Moor showdown with Preston North End.

And he remains hopeful of strengthening his squad before the derby clash as he continued to scour the loan market today.

Ternent has been firmly in the spotlight following Tuesday night's 6-0 home defeat by Manchester City.

But with the Burnley board backing him to lead the fight against relegation, Ternent believes the focus should now be on the people who will have the biggest bearing on the Clarets fate - the players.

"Everybody keeps talking about me, but it's got nothing to do with me.

"It's in the players' hands," stressed Ternent.

"If they want Stan Ternent as manager they will go out and perform, if they don't they won't.

"But I think they do."

I also believe the players, many of whom have been signed by Ternent, are behind the manager as the last thing they want is any more chopping and changing at a critical stage of the season.

As with any club there will inevitably be one or two members of a squad with gripes but going into Sunday's game there is the feeling that everyone is pulling together. And Ternent remains confident that his players are good enough to beat Preston and then secure their Second Division status.

"I think if the players are at it, they will win the game. It's as simple as that," he added.

There is the suggestion that the board won't tolerate another crushing defeat but as far as Ternent is concerned that doesn't even figure in his thinking.

"Of course I'm looking forward to the game," he said. Ternent is nobody's fool and knows that things haven't gone well and that the supporters are understandably unhappy on the back of two crushing defeats.

But a win over Preston could transform the place and restore the vital missing factor of confidence.

And as unlikely as three points would seem on recent evidence, a derby game is the type of fixture which could finally inspire Burnley to perform to something like their potential.

"It's another big game but I would rather have them than Colchester," insisted midfield man Mark Ford.

"Preston is a big one to lift ourselves for. We obviously didn't lift ourselves enough for the other night and it's a chance to redeem ourselves, well not redeem ourselves but put a bit of heart back. You don't redeem yourself for a 6-0 defeat." Ternent is hoping that a breakthrough in the loan market will help by reinforcing a squad still hit by injuries and suspensions and freshen things up after a long barren spell.

And it's likely that Ternent will be looking to bolster a defence that has conceded 63 goals this season.

"We haven't kept enough clean sheets, that's the easy way to put it," admitted the Burnley boss, who will have Chris Brass and Ally Pickering back from suspension to try and keep Preston's 24-goal partnership of Steve Basham and Kurt Nogan quiet.

Goalscoring is also causing a headache at the moment and with Ronnie Jepson likely to be fit enough only to start on the bench at best, Ternent will also be addressing that problem between now and when the cameras roll on Sunday.

"It's live on Sky so there's no hiding place," admitted Glen Little. "We've got to go out there and give it our best shot."

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