BUOYANT Burnley manager Steve Cotterill hailed Andy Gray after his leading scorer ended a frustrating wait to get back among the goals.

The Clarets striker took his tally for the season to 11 with the second in last night's 3-0 win over Norwich City - his first goal since recovering from the broken foot he sustained at the end of November.

Ade Akinbiyi opened Burnley's account against the Canaries, while Wade Elliott wrapped up the win that ensured the Clarets have matched last season's points haul of 54 with three games still to play.

It is only the second time this season that Burnley's starting strike duo have both got on the scoresheet - the previous one being the 2-1 home win over Leeds, ironically when Gray sustained the injury after adding to Gifton Noel-Williams' opener.

And Cotterill admitted that he had a smile big enough to cater for both Gray and Akinbiyi after the hitmen followed his pre-match instructions.

"Before the game I said an ideal scoreline would be to win 2-0 and both strikers get on the scoresheet and we can't even do that!," Cotterill quipped.

"Joking aside though, I suppose the third one was the pleasing one because we created enough chances to win by that margin and we have taken them.

"If the two strikers haven't got a big grin on their faces there is one on mine that is big enough for both of them.

"I am pleased for them because they are top boys.

"Andy Gray is one of the top strikers in this league - make no bones about it. He is one of the top strikers in this league. Anybody can play with him and he does all the horrible work.

"Ade has been out of the team, but he doesn't sulk and he was the first one on our feet when we scored against Plymouth. He is a good man and he deserved that goal."

Cotterill added: "I would imagine (not scoring) has been weighing heavily on Andy's mind. He has been playing well enough to score goals and that one typifies another good performance.

"I thought James O'Connor's shot was actually going in. There was one just before it where we didn't pick the bits up, but thankfully one fell right.

"It's funny because tonight he was not involved in the goal and it just rolled out to him, so I am really, really pleased for him."

And Gray admitted that seeing the ball hit the back of the net was a massive relief after enduring one of the most frustrating periods of his career.

"It's been a while," he said. "It's nice to score and to get another three points is good.

"It was nice just to get a little tap-in. Anything to score!"

Cotterill also praised goalkeeper Brian Jensen for keeping the Clarets in the game with a vital tip-over from Dion Dublin's header in the final 10 minutes with the scoreline at 1-0.

"Brian's save was very important. I said the longer it stayed 1-0, the edgier we would become.

"The sooner we got that second goal, the sooner we killed the game off.

"We are thankful for the three goals and the clean sheet to boot."