Signings give a shining ray of hope (From Burnley and Pendle Citizen)

Signings give a shining ray of hope

4:00pm Tuesday 21st March 2006

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IT seems an age ago since a solitary Ade Akinbiyi strike fired Burnley into the play-offs.

Boxing Day 2005 was the last time before Saturday that Burnley and Stoke City met, and at the time both clubs had realistic aspirations of bagging a place in the top six come season's end.

How times have changed. With Stoke seemingly hell bent on turning themselves into a joke club and Burnley slip-sliding down the table, the bottom six seems a more likely destination.

These are harsh times for the claret and blue faithful. Six straight defeats and one goal in nine hours of football are not the kind of statistics likely to have supporters flooding through the turnstiles for Friday night's televised clash with Norwich.

But at least last week offered some signs of hope. By far the biggest boost was Steve Cotterill signing his new contract. The manager will be looking to strengthen his squad over the summer, and if potential targets can see that the man trying to sign them is here for the long haul and attempting to build something, they will be more likely to commit for a similar period.

On the playing side of things, there was also good news with the loaning in of two players until the end of the season.

Phil Bardsley arrived courtesy of Sir Alex Ferguson and while recent temporary imports from Old Trafford never really worked - neither Luke Chadwick nor Neil Wood are fondly remembered - Bardsley at least has the advantage of having played for United's first team this term, and is unfortunate in that his preferred position is currently occupied by England's right back.

But it is up front where Burnley have lacked clou and hopefully Andy Gray can bring the goals. Granted, his Sunderland record is far from impressive, yet it is difficult to imagine any striker making an impact at the Stadium of Light at the moment.

Nor should too much be read into Sheffield United's decision to offload Gray to Sunderland in the first instance.

Neil Warnock changes his strikers as often as he changes his socks. Let's just say that any centre forward brought to Bramhall Lane would be well advised to rent rather than buy accommodation.

Here's hoping Gray can end his and Burnley's goal drought on Friday night.

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