STEVE Cotterill insists Burnley should not be looking at Andy Gray as their saviour to halt the club's winless streak.

The return of leading goalscorer Gray following more than two months out with a broken foot was the real bright spot for Clarets in their disappointing 3-1 Championship defeat at QPR on Saturday.

There was little for Burnley supporters to cheer about at Loftus Road as Cotterill's men slipped to their third successive defeat and are still without a victory since beating Leeds at Turf Moor on November 28.

But the arrival of 10-goal Gray as a second-half subsitute brought a rousing reception from the away following and they will be pinning their hopes on the Scotland international to continue where he left off before breaking three metatarsals in his right foot.

But Cotterill does not want the former Sunderland man to be burdened with the pressure of rescuing Burnley from their run of form.

The Clarets boss said: "He's not quite there yet as you saw when he came on.

"But putting him on was as much as a psychological one, not only for Andy but the rest of the squad, to see him back out there.

"That one will only get better, we know that. Just at the moment, it wasn't quite enough.

"He's been out a long while and we musn't put him down as our saviour now that's he back."

Cotterill, however, admits that Gray's presence on the pitch makes a huge difference and points to his side's winless run while the 29-year-old has been in the treatment room.

He added: "It's funny, but we haven't won since we lost Andy Gray. If you lose your best players, it doesn't help.

"Some people say one person doesn't make a team. I would like to change that statement, whoever made it, because I think one man does makes a team.

"You look back at all the great sides. Would Argentina have won the World Cup had Diego Maradona not played for them? I'm not so sure.

"Look at Chelsea without John Terry. When John Terry plays there, they are rock solid and the king of clean sheets. When he doesn't play, Chelsea struggle.

"I think one man does make a team and we've missed him for a long time."

While Gray made his long-awaited comeback, he was joined on the pitch by deadline-day signing Steve Caldwell and Cotterill was impressed with the former Sunderland defender's debut.

Cotterill added: "I thought Stevie Caldwell was absolutely first-class when he came on.

"We looked stronger back there, but he hasn't done anything for three or four weeks.

"The last thing we need at the moment was to start with him and for him to get tired because he hasn't done any training.

"He's had one day's training with us. However, when he went on we looked stronger back there, so there is certainly positives to look forward to there."