GOAL hero Andy Gray believes Steve Davis is the man for the Burnley hot-seat after guiding the Clarets to victory in his first game as caretaker boss.

Gray, who took his tally for the season to 10 with his 24th minute winner at Leicester City, says former Burnley captain Davis already has the players' respect.

The Clarets leading scorer believes Davis' long-standing affinity with the club is a key factor, and he is confident the 39-year-old would be capable of filling the position vacated by Steve Cotterill last week on a more permanent basis.

"Everybody knows he's an honest, good bloke. He speaks his mind and cares about the club, which is important," said Gray.

"And I think that's a big factor for whoever gets the job. Steve should be in prime position because of his attachment to the club. "He obviously cares about the club and the lads respect him as well. "Everybody has to start somewhere, don't they?

"You never really know until you give people a chance.

"He was in charge (on Saturday) and we came away with three points, so you can't really get a better start than that.

"None of the lads really wanted to see the manager go but if we could have anybody I think it would be Steve.

"All the lads respect him and like working for him and that showed at Leicester."

Gray added that although Cotterill's departure had taken the squad by surprise last week, the focus has quickly turned to steering Burnley back up the Championship ladder, with Saturday's win taking them to 13th place.

"It's been a tough few days and you just want to do as best you can," he said.

"Football's a funny game and you've got to try to move on. It sounds horrible but the past is the past.

"If you stand still in this game you're forgotten about.

"It unites you when something like that happens and we came together and produced a good performance, and we could have scored a few more goals."

And the former Sunderland and Sheffield United striker revealed his delight at not just reaching double figures a third of the way through the campaign, but coupling that with a second clean sheet in three games.

"It's nice to score, especially away from home and get three points, and to be on 10 goals so early in the season. It's good," he said.

"It was a great little ball through from Wade (Elliott) and I just managed to roll the defender and shoot into the far corner.

"We've struggled and haven't kept a lot of clean sheets really this season so to come away from home and get one is great. "We scored quite early on so we had to defend it for a long period of the game, although I can't really remember Gabor (Kiraly) having a save to make really.

"Having seen the results on Saturday everybody can beat everybody else in this league. "It's so close, it's just getting consistency really I think with every team."

Several managers have been linked with the Burnley job over weekend.

Scunthorpe boss Nigel Adkins has been one name touted, while Manchester United coach Micky Phelan has also been linked.

Peter Reid, Ian Holloway and Martin Allen are still among the bookmakers' favourites.