No question, Burnley are up for the cup

New manager Eddie Howe is confident, competent – and six years younger than team's captain

BURNLEY, ENGLAND // Conventional wisdom is that a cup run is a distraction, whether from an attempt to avoid relegation or a push for promotion. The number of weakened teams, the sight of half-empty stadiums suggest that it is an unwanted sideshow.

Burnley beg to disagree, citing their own experience as evidence. Two seasons ago, when they were managed by Owen Coyle, they were minutes away from reaching the Carling Cup final, played 61 games during the campaign and still achieved elevation.

Relegated after a solitary season in the Premier League, now they have the same blueprint: a young, optimistic manager, vowing to attack in the cup and displaying an upwardly mobile streak.

"I followed Burnley's progress in the cup at the time," said Eddie Howe, now the man in charge at Turf Moor. "It was a fantastic run. It was a catalyst for them and you can draw parallels."

Two years on, momentum is being gathered again, with four victories in six matches and a creditable point at promotion-chasing Cardiff Citylast Tuesday.

In 2009, Burnley were the scourge of teams from the capital, eliminating Fulham, Chelsea and Arsenal and almost adding Tottenham Hotspur to their list of scalps. Tonight's opponents are London's other Premier League side, West Ham United.

While it has been a fractious season at Upton Park, a feel-good factor is being restored in Lancashire, according to Ross Wallace.

The ill-fated reign of Brian Laws ended in December and Howe was appointed last month. "The main thing has been the positivity from the fans towards the new manager," Wallace, the Burnley winger, said.

"It's been a breath of fresh air. The players are taking confidence from that."

Like Coyle before him, Howe appears one of management's rising stars. The second-youngest manager in the Football League, he is six years the junior of Graham Alexander, Burnley's club captain.

While Coyle was excelling at Burnley, Howe, then 31, saved his hometown club, Bournemouth, when a 17-point deduction meant relegation from the Football League beckoned.

In his own words, Howe was 20 going on 40 when he was a player; different, more serious. As a manager, Wallace indicated that he is a thinker. "Tactically, he's good," the Scot said: "We are doing more on shape and positioning. He takes all our training and does our tactics."

Perhaps it is a consequence of Howe's age that Wallace describes him as "a bit standoffish". It is understandable; he is putting distance between himself and the men who would otherwise be his peers.

Howe is a rarity in another respect. He presumed his FA Cup campaign ended with Bournemouth's December defeat to Notts County. "It feels weird," he said. "It's the first time that's happened that I have been out and back in again. I see it as a second chance."

So it is for Burnley; it is 90 minutes for players who had slipped into the lower half of the table by the time Laws departed to prove they are capable of matching top-flight opposition.

Even for those who were not at the club in their brief taste of the Premier League, there appears to be an annual appointment with elite clubs.

"When I was at Preston we got Chelsea and Liverpool," Wallace said, adding dryly: "I don't think I've had a cup run down here."

His time north of the border gives him first-hand knowledge of both sides of the FA Cup divide, as the eager underdog and the quashed favourite.

The latter, in 2006, proved a particularly memorable occasion. Roy Keane realised a life's ambition by debuting for Celtic, only for a team of part-timers to defeat the Glasgow giants.

"All the hype around the game and we got beaten by Clyde," he said. "It's a horrible feeling. When Roy Keane comes in, there's massive pressure right away. It was quiet in the dressing room after and the worst thing is when it's quiet."

Silence, he hopes, will descend on West Ham later tonight.

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