Coventry City full back David Burrows is ready to bury the ghost of a dreadful Sky Blues performance and put a nail in the coffin of his former club Everton.

Coventry travel to their fellow strugglers on Sunday knowing that a win would put them within touching distance of safety but also push the Goodison Park side closer to the drop.

Coventry have been to Goodison already this season when Everton sent them flying out of the FA Cup. Burrows believes the memory of that will drive his current side on.

He said:

"We let ourselves down badly in the FA Cup. We didn’t perform as we should have done. We had beaten Leicester away from home with just 10 men in the previous round but we didn’t come close to that level at Everton.

"We had a great support from the fans that day and we let them down – we mustn’t do the same again. We have now won four out of six games and that run has come at the right time for us. We had needed to turn things around before our confidence dipped and we seem to have done that.

"There is a massive incentive for both sides but we will also remember how we did in the cup game and are determined not to repeat it."

Burrows, who had six success-packed years on the red side of Liverpool, played 19 league matches for Everton under Joe Royle and knows how desperate the Merseyside fans are to see both clubs in the top flight.

He added:

"I think everyone is surprised to see them down there but, like winning, struggling can become a cycle that is hard to break. Managers can’t turn things around as quickly as they would like. Walter Smith appears to have the money but it is not always easy to get the players when you want them, for the price you want them.

"Offering good wages is no longer enough to attract the really top players, they have to see a good chance of winning something.

"I don’t know Walter but whenever I have heard him speak, he talks very good sense and, of course, has lot of experience.

"We went there on the final day last season when they could have gone down and it was very, very tense indeed. I am sure it will be the same again.

"My perfect scenario would be for us to win and be safe, and them stay in the division but I will only have one priority on Sunday and that is to win all three points for Coventry."