SAM Vokes hopes he and Danny Ings can reach 50 goals this season after the pair combined to give QPR an almighty scare at Loftus Road on Saturday.

Ings scored once and Vokes netted twice in a 3-3 draw at second-placed QPR, which kept the Clarets in the automatic promotion race and took the strike duo’s combined tally for the season to a 37 goals in 33 matches.

Burnley still have 18 games remaining this season and Vokes is now hopeful that his strike partnership with Ings can keep delivering and reach the half century mark by the end of the campaign.

“It would be nice!” Vokes admitted about the half century target, having netted 15 goals this term. Ings has 22.

“Every game as a striker you want to go out and get the opportunity to score goals and if we can do that it’s a good thing for strikers, so hopefully yes it would be nice.

“We just have to keep plugging away, that’s what we’re all about and hopefully we can chip in with a few more.”

Vokes believes Burnley have proved they are capable of taking the automatic promotion race right to the wire after coming close to claiming a shock win on Saturday.

The Clarets remain in third place, three points behind QPR, after a 3-3 draw.

But they almost leapfrogged their opponents into second when they led 3-2 going into the closing stages.

Vokes thinks Burnley’s performance showed that they are serious contenders to take a place in the top two.

“I think so, we haven’t mentioned the word promotion this year but it’s something that we need to get our heads around and keep pushing now,” the striker said.

“We have to keep going. We’ve got 18 games to go. There’s everything to play for.

“I think it could go to the wire. It seems to be going that way. If we can keep putting the pressure on, QPR are three points ahead of us at the moment but I’m sure there will be a lot of twists and turns.

“We went there, expressed ourselves and showed what we offer the league and what we’ve got within our squad,” he added.

“All season especially away from home we’ve gone to places without fear and showed that we can do that to other teams.

“QPR are a strong side and they’ve got massive resources, so for us to go there and give them that sort of game is great for us.

“When you get into the lead you feel like you can then go on and take the game to them, which we did. But it was a good draw in the end.

“We’ve got some tough games and some home games coming up that we’ll look to pick up points from now.

“The confidence we’ll take from a result like Saturday will be massive.”