STEVE Cotterill insists Burnley will prepare as best they can for tomorrow's re-arranged FA Cup third round clash at Reading.

The original tie was called off at 2.50pm on Saturday following a waterlogged pitch at the Madejski Stadium.

Referee Rob Styles took the decision to postpone the match following a torrential downpour prior to kick-off.

It was the second succesive occasion that the Clarets fell foul of bad weather, coming six days after the New Year's Day postponement against Stoke at Turf Moor.

With a long journey to Southampton set to follow this Saturday, a return trip to Berkshire is not ideal.

But Burnley boss Cotterill admits his side - who are in the hat for the fourth round draw that takes place at 1.30pm today - will knuckle down to try and dump out the Premiership new-boys.

"We've got a long trip, so there's not a lot we can do about it," said Cotterill.

"We just have to prepare the best we can.

"Hopefully the re-match will be a decent game. We'll come down, have a go and give it our best shot.

"We seem to be spending more time on the bus at the moment than we have on the pitch.

"But that's where we are and we'd rather get the game played.

"We didn't want to delay it until the replay date. We don't want it to drag on."

Cotterill said his side were desperate to play but had no complaints with the postponement.

He added: "Unfortunately, the weather pays no attention to criticism and I don't think the referee had any choice if I'm honest.

"It was quite bad out there. I would imagine their groundsman would have been having babies if the game had gone ahead.

"It's disappointing because we were desperate to play. We wanted a game, but there is not a lot you can do about it.

"We said we were happy to wait around for a delayed kick-off and if the rain ceased it might rain away and we could have been okay.

"But the weather forecast the referee was given said it was heavy rain until half-time."