WORRIED Mick McCarthy has ordered his Wolves side to keep a rare clean sheet at Turf Moor today – otherwise risk the wrath of Burnley’s boisterous fans.

The Clarets can take a giant stride towards Premier League safety if they beat their relegation rivals at Turf Moor, in what is arguably their biggest game of the season to date.

A victory over the Black Country strugglers would not only lift Brian Laws’ men out of the bottom three but also lift the spirits of the club’s supporters who have seen their team win just one match in their last 18 league outings.

Those fans sang their hearts out as they spurred Burnley to a midweek draw at home to Stoke City – a fact not lost on McCarthy, who witnessed Turf’s white-hot atmosphere at first hand on Wednesday.

The Wolves manager is now concerned that those fans could prove the difference in a classic six-pointer that could well determine the fate of both clubs come the end of the campaign.

With so much at stake, McCarthy has called on his players to stop Burnley from scoring on home soil – an achievement so far unfulfilled by previous opponents at Turf – and keep the stadium quiet.

“We have to stop them scoring because if they score, that place does erupt,” he said.

“The way they reacted to their players going off at half time (against Stoke) gave them a real boost.

“They gave the players the bird when things were going astray.

“There were moans, groans, heckling and a few boos, but as they were going off the crowd were fabulous. That turned it around.

“If I heard that reaction in my earhole as a player I’d want to play for that lot.”

McCarthy added: “I heard Brian Laws on the radio on the way home, saying he saw Mick McCarthy behind him and I bet he was smiling in the first half. I wasn’t smiling, but they didn’t play well.

“It’s a huge game for both of us. The same points are at stake for both teams, it’s their home game.

“Burnley have a helluva home record – 23 home points and one draw away at Manchester City. That tells you they’re a good home side.”

Burnley are side by side with Wolves on 24 points, along with Hull, with only nine games remaining to save their top-flight status.

But while the result of this afternoon’s crunch clash may be crucial for the Clarets, McCarthy is adamant it won’t ultimately prove decisive in who stays up and who go downs.

He said: “People expect a game which will be nervy, tense, tight, horrible – a scrappy bottom of the table affair, but it might end up 5-4, who knows?

“I’d like to say it’s just another game but that’s impossible because the stakes are so high and whichever team wins, it puts a hell of a distance between them and the other.

“The thought process will be that team that loses is going down, that, ‘That’s it’.

“But that’s gobbledegook because there are loads of games left and if you win one or two, it can all change.”