The condition of Kyle Lafferty's eyes will determine if he starts for Burnley at Barnsley tomorrow, as he returns from international duty.

The Northern Ireland ace scored a stunning equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Sweden that still keeps his nation in the hunt to qualify for Euro 2008.

But, depending on his fitness levels, the Clarets may not be able to tap into the euphoria of what he described as "the best game of my career"straight away.

"I need to see Kyle this morning. If he comes in here with those eyes that look like they've been slit with razorblades when they're tired, I have to make my judgement based on that really," Steve Cotterill said.

"We've spoken about this numerous times with him, but when he gets thrown back in the team he gets fatigued and tired.

"We've got to make sure we still manage Kyle. He's probably not at the same strength as someone like Chris McCann. He's bit more wiry.

"But I thought he worked really hard against Sweden. I thought there was a stage just before he scored where he was getting potentially close to coming off, but I'm delighted he stayed on, got the game under his belt and scored a great goal.

"His first touch helped him out, and the amount of times we see that here, where sometimes he doesn't get his first touch out of his feet and give himself enough space to get his shot away.

"But he did it well and we're pleased with that."

But Cotterill believes Lafferty is still lacking the physical strength to cope with a gruelling domestic schedule which throws up three games in a week on the back of a two-week break.

"Kyle's not got a lot of muscle bulk on him yet. He's got more on him through the summer, but until he stops growing he gets weak after a while," added Cotterill.

"We can't train him any harder than we train him, but he is at that stage at the moment. He's gangly and his muscles are long rather than being strong and compact.

"We've got three big games this week, two of them are at home. Kyle's just come back so whether we decide to not play him in this one and we play him in the others might be of a benefit."