Laws hoping for more giant-killing acts from Clarets

Burnley manager Brian Laws has urged his players to draw on their giant-killing experiences of 2008 and book their place in the last eight of the Carling Cup.

Burnley, who two years ago provided Carling Cup upsets against Fulham, Chelsea and Arsenal before an heroic semi-final defeat over two legs to Tottenham, sank Bolton 1-0 in the previous round of this season's competition.

The Clarets are still reeling from their 4-0 humbling by Reading at Turf Moor in the Championship on Saturday, and will need a positive reaction when they travel to face Gerard Houllier's Aston Villa tonight.

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The weekend loss was their first home league defeat of the season and Laws, in his first full season at the club, said: "Saturday was poor and I can't disguise it.

"But we've got to move on and you can't ask for a better game than Aston Villa away in the cup, when hopefully we can dust off that performance.

"We've got to bounce back, no question about it and hopefully Saturday was a blip.

"We will obviously have to improve our performance against Aston Villa to get anything out of it, but the one thing Burnley Football Club is famous for, particularly over the last few seasons, is a good cup run and to get results when they are least expected."

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Former Scunthorpe and Sheffield Wednesday manager Laws, installed as Owen Coyle's successor at Turf Moor in January, a month after being sacked from his post at Hillsborough, has steered the Clarets to seventh place in the Championship table following relegation.

Two seasons ago, Fulham were disposed of 1-0 and then a Chelsea side including Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Florent Malouda and Frank Lampard were held 1-1 at Stamford Bridge before the Clarets famously held their nerve to win 5-4 on penalties.

They followed up with a 2-0 quarter-final win over Arsenal before a superb fightback against Tottenham in the second leg of their semi-final.

Trailing 4-1 from the first leg at White Hart Lane, Burnley forced extra time, but another 30 minutes proved a bridge too far as Spurs shattered the Clarets' Wembley dream.

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Laws, aware Burnley went on to secure promotion that season, added: "It's a great competition that we're in and at this stage it's not too far away from the final. It's a massive game for both parties."