ALL eyes have been on the defence in recent weeks as they seem to be taking the brunt of the blame for the current dip.

And it's self-evident that individual mistakes in silly positions are still costing us goals at crucial times.

I say this having been an outspoken critic of Graham Branch just a few weeks ago.

But maybe its time to take the blinkers off and look towards the other end of the pitch for considering the present predicament.

It's all well and good pointing the finger at certain defenders making the odd rick, but our strikers are hardly setting the world alight at the moment either.

I make it eight games now since Robbie Blake scored and I know if I suffered from a run like that I would be taking along, hard look at myself.

It seems to me the lads up front are a little reticent in taking that chance you sometimes need to get the all-important goal that can change the course of an afternoon.

If you are going to score, you need to be on the move and far too often the front men are too static and doing most of their work outside the box, when they should be concentrating on making that run to the near or far post in anticipation.

The likes of Glen Little and Luke Chadwick are always likely to ping the crosses over and although you cannot be expected to guess right every time, it's that instinct that you expect from someone who should be there to finish things off.

It's the hallmark of a striker at any level and the thing that makes a periodic goalscorer a regular on the scoresheet.

What is certainly true is that it needs a good win from somewhere to get the confidence flowing in the Clarets camp again.

Sometimes you begin to feel you are doubting yourself when you keep insisting the team is playing good football, but that's not being reflected in results.

It's something I'm sure Stan is all too aware of and that's why he's busy trying to being some new faces in to freshen things up a touch.

But in the meantime he has to rely on the squad at his disposal and they are the ones who have to come up with the goods - and soon!

Right now we are at a pivotal point of the season, with a trip to struggling Derby followed by two home games against Rotherham and Reading.

In my view, we have to be looking to take at least seven points from that trio to get things back on track.

If we don't, the prospect of dropping further down the table and possibly even into the bottom three, doesn't bear thinking about.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - we are far too good to be down with the dead men. I can't recall a single home game this season when we shouldn't have won comfortably and that reassures me everything will still be okay.

What we need now is the next three games to show that.