CHARLIE Austin is gunning for Reading after putting the worst goal drought of his career behind him.

The striker scored the second in Burnley’s 2-0 win over Barnsley on Tuesday, ending a run of six games, and six weeks, without a goal.

Austin, who had scored only once in 13 games beforehand, admitted it came as a relief to end his barren spell.

And after taking his tally for the campaign to 11, the 22-year-old is now looking to rediscover the early season form which took him to the top of the club’s goal charts and boost the Clarets’ play-off push, starting with tomorrow night’s showdown with the Royals.

"It's been tough. It's the first time in my career that I've gone through a goal drought like that,” said Austin, whose last goal came in the New Year defeat at Leeds United.

“It did affect me because goals bring confidence to any striker. I was a bit down and it seemed like I was getting there a yard too early or a yard too late at times.

“But as a striker you have to keep working hard and hope the ball will fall for you, and obviously it did.

“I’ve worked hard for the past couple of weeks to get myself in the right positions.

“I felt I should have scored against Peterborough and Derby and luckily enough I got it (against Barnsley).

“It’s nice to get that one and hopefully it can push me on again.”

After slipping further away from the play-offs following defeat at Southampton on Saturday, Burnley closed the gap to four points with their midweek home win.

The Clarets can make up even more ground with a win at sixth-placed Reading tomorrow, and Austin said: “If I can do what I did before Christmas and before my injury and get that form back I think it will help the team a lot.”

The former Swindon Town hotshot scored after Jay Rodriguez, who broke the deadlock with a fourth-minute goal, had a shot turned against the post.

Austin was on hand to tap in the rebound, and although it was a simple finish, he said: "I really couldn't care to be honest; you've got to be in the right place at the right time to put the ball in the net and that's where I was.

"Obviously the second goal was important because at 1-0 they're still in it. If they'd have scored a point at home would have been disappointing for us but we've outplayed them by a long shot.

“It was a great team performance to put Saturday’s game to bed.

“For me it was really important to get that goal. It’s been a while.

"I just want to kick on now and hopefully I can do that on Friday."

Austin has been disrupted by injury since arriving at Turf Moor, dislocating his shoulder twice in 14 months, most recently in mid-November.

But he insists it isn’t a concern.

"I've put the injury to bed and I don't want to worry about that anymore,” he said.

“It's an injury so if it happens again it happens but I just look forward to playing every day.”