Alex Cisak hoping for chance to impress

The Australian keeper came off the bench for his Burnley debut in the 2-0 defeat at Brighton on Saturday, after Tom Heaton was sent off.

And the former Oldham man is in line for his full debut against North End, as Heaton

serves a one-match suspension.

It wasn’t the ideal scenario for his first appearance at the weekend, coming into the game cold, but Cisak said: “I’m not complaining when chances come.

“I’m buzzing to come on and get a game but obviously I’d like to start.

“It’s a tough one. You’ve just got to concentrate when you come on and make sure you’re focused and ready if you do get the opportunity.

“Sometimes you don’t get on the whole season and sometimes you do.

“That’s football and hopefully I can start against Preston.”

Asked whether the battle for the gloves starts now, he smiled: “Let’s hope so.

“But hopefully we can just get through to the next round of the cup.

“It will be a tough game because they had a good result in the last game.

“It’s a derby as well.

“It’s a big game for the fans and all the players want to win anyway so you don’t need any other incentive.

“We’re just going to work as hard as we can.”

Cisak, like many at Brighton, was puzzled by Heaton’s sending off, for a second yellow card picked up for handling the ball after releasing it: “It was a strange one, I didn’t really see what actually happened with Tom, I just saw he got sent off so I got ready and came on.

“It was a very hard game for us, very hard conditions, and unfortunately we didn’t get the result.”

Burnley’s unbeaten start came to an end, but Cisak added: “It’s how we bounce back now.

“A win against Preston is vital for us.

“We need a good performance as well for the fans and be in the hat for the next round.

“We were on a good run before Saturday so I’m sure we can bounce back and perform

well.

“There’s a great team spirit at the moment, everyone believes we can win every game.”