Ashley Barnes on his Burnley future, lack of game time, survival and Mansfield Town cup tie

The 36-year-old has been a bit-part player for the Clarets this season, seeing just nine minutes of action in the Premier League.

The only frustration, on that occasion, was that Barnes was unable to bag a first ever career hat-trick.

But despite his lack of game time, the club stalwart still has an important role to play behind the scenes as a senior figure within the dressing room.

Ahead of today’s cup tie, Barnes talked about his influence, as well as Wednesday’s comeback win against Crystal Palace as well as his longer-term future, with his contract due to end at the end of the season.

Here’s what he had to say:

“It was a really nice feeling after the other night, for sure. It put a smile on people’s faces.

“It was a bit of a nice journey back, I should say, and the mood has been very, very positive.

“Obviously, it’s been positive throughout the season. We’ve got a job to doubt obviously the wins have just not been coming.

“There’s been a bit of frustration, a bit of disappointment within ourselves. Knowing that we can always do better. But luckily enough we put that right the other day.

“For 40 minutes, it looked like it was going that way again, but seven minutes before half-time, it all changed for us.

“It was a crazy game of football, a crazy end to the first half and I think we could have had a couple more in that period of time as well. Maybe we just didn’t want that whistle to go for half-time.

“But we hung on at the end and, yeah, what a great win.”

“It’s obviously two different competitions, but this is one that just breathes confidence within the group and hopefully we can get into the next round tomorrow.

“It’s a game that we’re not taking lightly. We know we’ve got to do a job. We’ve got a job to do, very professional, like the last one [Millwall], and hopefully that we can come away and get in the next round.

“Any game, you need to be professional. You need to do things right and that’s what we will continue to do.

“We worked hard today on the training field and ready for the prep, ready for tomorrow and we know what to expect from them in terms of how they’ll play.

“We’ve got ourselves to obviously come in tomorrow fresh, raring to go and raring to get through to the next round.”

“Hopefully, if selected tomorrow, that’s what I’ll be trying to do again, is put the ball in the back of the net.

“It was amazing [to play]. Every time I pull on the shirt, it’s a dream come true.

“So, to hopefully do it tomorrow, if selected, like I say, I’ll be raring to go and I’ll be raring to stick the ball in the back of the net. Hopefully three this time, not just two. That would be nice.”

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“It’s never nice when you’re going through a tougher period, should I say.

“But that’s where the likes of myself, us older ones in the changing room, that the younger ones look up to, to say: ‘no, it’s alright, we’ve got to keep going’.

“You can’t hide away, you can’t shy away. You’ve got to go in front of yourselves and you’ve just got to put your shoulders back and noses down and we’re going.

“There’s plenty of points to play for in our league campaign and I can’t see why we can’t go on a run now and put some points together and try and close this gap.”

“Obviously not getting too far in most of them!

“But it’s one of these that I’m raring to try and get a good cup run, really, for the likes of myself and others that aren’t playing as much.

“Hopefully, if selected, like I say, that you do get some minutes and you go and show what you can do and everyone’s raring for competition when obviously chosen.”

“I think that’s just the competition that we always get so far and then you get the likes of Man City, obviously, in the next round. So that’s always a downer.

“But it’s one of those competitions that you want to get so far in. It’s an extra game for lads to play.

“Everyone wants to play football matches and this is just another one that stands in the way tomorrow and hopefully we do everything right and professional and we get through.”

“That’s the FA Cup. That’s why everyone loves it.

“It’s about the fans and the upsets it does cause. We’ve got to make sure we’ve got to be on it so that doesn’t happen to us.”

“We [the players] were absolutely delighted. He deserves the credit to take all that and he’s probably not been sleeping as well as what he would have liked.

“It’s nice to have that kind of relief to finally put that, what was it, 16 games, is it? We ended it the other night with the three points. So that was a nice feeling.

“But yeah, you probably want the league to keep going now after the other night, but it’s another thing to go and get confidence, to go and breathe confidence, to play and get another win.”

“I don’t really know at the moment. It’s one of them that obviously I want to keep playing for me. But if I wanted to play these games that we haven’t been winning, you’re just praying for a chance of being ready.

“You just have to be ready. But yeah, it’s one of these things that I don’t know. That’s not the priority at the moment.

“The priority is to stay in this division and that’s something that I want to be helping with first and foremost.”