Burnley keeper Grant desperate to steer the Clarets clear

And he is desperate to help steer the Clarets away from trouble towards the play-off chase.

After the 3-1 defeat at Bristol City on Saturday, Burnley are now five points from the drop zone, but, conversely, seven from the play-off places, with a game in hand.

And Grant, who pulled off a string of fine saves to keep his side in the game in the first half at Ashton Gate, admitted: “There are plenty of things we need to be thinking about.

“We need to make sure we really are trying to dig in now and recognise the situation we’re in and make sure we put it right, because we don’t want to be in the lower reaches of the division, we want to be trying to push up and look at the top six.

“On current form we’re not doing that so we really need to work hard and try to get ourselves in the right spot.”

Burnley don’t get a chance to remedy things until a week on Saturday against Leeds, but the problem is staring everyone in the face - the side are shipping too many goals: “It will be a long two weeks because we all want to just play.

“On the flip side it means we can work hard on the training ground and put things right because we know as a squad and a team we are conceding too many goals and we want to put that right.

“We have to stick together. There’s no use in pulling in separate directions.

“We’re a very small squad and a young side and we want to do well for each other and we’ll strive to do that over the next couple of weeks.”

In the league, Burnley’s recent form has seen them win two, lose two, win two and now lose two again, and that inconsistency is a puzzle: “If you could put your finger on that you’d be getting a job in the league somewhere because it’s frustrating for us and the manager.

“We are working hard as a squad. We are getting really good results and then on the back of that we’ll have indifferent ones. In this division you can’t do that.

“It really is a case of everyone pulling in the right direction and concentrating and working hard all the time.”

Boss Eddie Howe read the riot act at half-time on Saturday, and Grant could see his point of view: “We got the hairdryer treatment and rightly so, we deserved that.

“Every manager has his tipping point.

“Our manager certainly made sure we were under no illusions as to what he wanted in the second half.

“We came out bright but we didn’t manage to keep that going.

“We probably played a little bit loose. You save that type of attitude in the game for the last minute when you’re really searching for something.”

Grant got no pleasure from a good personal performance - after picking the ball out of the net three times: “It’s a team game, we’re all in it together.

“The same might be said for the strikers. They might dig us out of a hole one week and likewise it might be the other way around the following week.

“We’re all trying our hardest and pulling in the right direction and working hard for each other, but unfortunately mistakes do happen. In the last couple of weeks we’ve made our fair share at the back - and throughout the side - but we’ll certainly work hard to rectify that over the next two weeks.

“It (the break) might be a good thing and give us a chance to work on a few things that we know we need to work on.”