Wes Burns says secret behind his fine form for Fleetwood Town is confidence and hard work as he issued a thank you message to the fans

Burns scored in Town’s last league game, the 3-0 win over Coventry City, then his fluke effort helped Town to a 2-1 FA Cup second-round win over Guiseley on Monday.

Burns, 24, now heads to Luton Town aiming to make it three in three, and after topping last season’s five-goal tally already he is glad to be repaying the faith of the Cod Army.

The Welshman lit up Highbury with five goals in just 14 games on loan from Bristol City in 2015/16. And he believes he has rediscovered that form as he thanked the fans for their backing.

Burns had this message for the Cod Army: “Thank you for sticking by me for the last couple of seasons. Hopefully I am paying you back now.

“It can be hard when you are not playing to a standard you know you are a capable of. When I first came on loan I did so well here and I wanted to give the same performances. I feel now I am getting back to that level, which is good.”

Asked how he has managed that, Burns explained: “I think it is just simplifying my game as much as possible and it seems to be working.

“The manager gives me a set movements to do during games, whether it is just to receive and go, peel inside or take a player on. I have different types of crosses when I get into different areas.”

Burns's sixth goal was a freak finish at Guiseley, where home keeper Joe Green’s clearance cannoned off him into the net, but other goals have been crafted on the training ground due to his work with coach Steve Eyre.

Ex-Rochdale boss Eyre was also Barton’s former Manchester City coach and Burns is grateful to them both.

He said: “I think you can tell by how I have been playing what confidence the gaffer has given me. He has been second to none.

“I do a lot more work with Steve Eyre, a lot of that goes unseen. I can’t thank him enough for his work with me on the training ground.

“The finish against Coventry, the calm roll through the legs, is what Steve talks about all the time.

“That corridor down the right side of the box is where I get most of my finishes, so we just work on stuff like that.

“The whole coaching staff have worked with me and they have had a massive impact on my career so far.

“Steve calls himself the ‘set-piece guru’. He likes to think he is a bit of a mastermind on set-pieces, which he is to be fair.

“We have got a good catalogue of set-pieces now, with the short corners and balls going in. We have different types of delivery he works on with us.”