McDonald has made 40 appearances in his 17 months at Turf Moor

Burnley manager Owen Coyle wants Kevin McDonald to make more of an impact after seeing the young midfielder hit his first Premier League goal.

McDonald, 21, kept his cool to rescue a point at Eastlands on Saturday in the Clarets' 3-3 draw with Manchester City.

And Coyle told BBC Radio Lancashire: "He's got everything in his locker to be a top-class player.

"He's always had a tremendous impact as a substitute and he now has to have that impact in the games he starts."

And Coyle is now urging McDonald to stake a claim for Burnley's next game, at home to Aston Villa on 21 November.

"I want him knocking on my door and asking to start games," said Coyle.

I want him knocking on my door and asking to start games Burnley manager Owen Coyle

"We speak day in, day out because I want to further Kevin's career.

"And, if he can show good performances from the start then he'll be in the team for a long time to come."

Carnoustie-born McDonald joined Burnley for £500,000 in June 2008, having previously made over 100 appearances for Scottish First Division side Dundee.

He made his debut two months later in the Carling Cup victory over Bury before making his first big headlines with both strikes in the 2-0 quarter-final win over Arsenal, just three days after scoring his first league goal for the club.

But he has had to wait another 11 months - and 24 games - to get on the scoresheet again.

"I knew it was going to come some time," he said. "It's amazing for myself to get a goal.

"As for the team, we kept on going and never let our heads go down and hopefully now we can also relax more away from home.

"Some people would've thought we'd blown our chance, but we stuck at it and kept going and we could've scored again."

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