Burnley boss Scott Parker has claimed that he won’t get tired of being asked about his side’s extraordinary run of 12 consecutive clean sheets in the EFL Championship.
The 44-year-old has led his side to third place in the second division and is fighting for automatic promotion behind Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday.
However, this week the Clarets will switch their focus onto the FA Cup fifth round against Lancashire rivals Preston North End.
“No, I won't, to be fair, as long as it keeps happening,” he said on the clean sheet record.
“The day you stop asking is the day it probably stops happening.”
He added: "It's something we are very proud of. [On the] work [put in] it's full credit to all of us here and the players that work on the defensive side - our structure and everything that goes with that.
"A lot of hard work has gone into it, hence why we have produced the numbers that we have in the defensive phase as a team.
"It's something we want to continue. It gives us a platform and a foundation in those games and so hopefully you can keep asking me those questions for many weeks to come."
Preston and Burnley have met twice so far this season, with both games ending in goalless draws and, having been eliminated from six of their last seven fifth round ties, Parker is hoping his Burnley side can reach the quarter-finals.
-
A battle across the generations
Parker describes the fifth-round tie as an “opportunity” with the winners just one victory away from an impactful semi-final at Wembley.
He said: “The league is fundamentally our priority this year but it is a competition we want to do extremely well in and we have got an opportunity.
"We are against good opposition but if we can get through this round then that takes us into the realms of maybe seeing something [extraordinary].
"So we will go there as strongly as we can. We want to get through this round with a good performance and stay in this competition as long as we can."
This will be the 144th meeting between the two sides, having faced each other on the first ever day of the Football League in September 1888.
However, it’s the first time they’ve met in the FA Cup, while Preston are vying to reach the quarter-final of the competition for the first time since 1965-66, going out at this stage of the competition six times since.
