AHEAD of this evening's rearranged Barclays Premier League clash with Burnley at Turf Moor, former Potters defender Leon Cort talks exclusively to stokecityfc.com.

The London-born defender, who joined the Clarets in a £1.5million deal in the January transfer window, played an instrumental role in helping City to promotion during the 2007/08 campaign, before following that up with an equally impressive debut Premier League campaign.

However, after finding first team opportunities hard to come by at the start of this season, 'Corty' opted to depart the club and pen a long term deal with the Clarets.

First of all Leon, how are things going for you up at Turf Moor?

"It's nice to be playing again, getting the opportunity to play every week is what you want as a footballer, so things are going well for me. I'm enjoying it, it's a tough battle at the minute, but we're hopeful we can get through it and stay in the Premier League."

I suppose you're in a similar situation to the one you were in last year here at Stoke?

"Yeah, spot on. It's quite scary really because there are a lot of similarities. The crowd really get behind us, just like at Stoke and our home form this season has been good. Obviously, the away form is a disappointment, but we believe we will break our duck sooner rather than later. Hopefully, we can do what we did at Stoke last season and have a good end to the season."

You enjoyed arguably the best few years of your career at Stoke Leon, so was it a difficult decision to leave in January?

"Without a doubt. I loved my time there, obviously there was the disappointment of not playing games towards the end of my spell, but the promotion year and the season we stayed up was unbelievable. Nobody can ever take those experiences away from me and believe me they will stay with me for the rest of my life. I think at the end the manager recognised that I wanted to play football so we sat down and I had a good chat with him. We sorted it out amicably, so it was a nice way to end things."

Many pundits are describing Wednesday night's game as 'a must win' for you, do you see it that way?

"It's absolutely huge for us. It's going to be one of the toughest games from now until the end of the season, make no mistake about that. We won't get a minute's peace against Stoke and I know that better than most having been part of it for the last few years. It's a huge game for us, like I say, but after it I will shake the hands of all the Stoke lads regardless of the result, but definitely not before it."

Brian Laws has already mentioned he may seek a little bit of advice from you in the build up to the game, has he had a quiet word with you yet?

"I don't think he really needs to ask me anything, if I'm honest. He's got the videos of previous games and we will have done our homework. You've just got to try and compete with them, if you don't compete then you're going to get hurt, everyone knows that, we'll have to be prepared to take some knocks and bruises to deal with it."

You obviously held belief that Burnley could avoid the drop otherwise you wouldn't have signed for them; is that still the case Leon?

"Definitely! Look at Wigan earlier this week they beat Liverpool when nobody expected them to. We know on our day, especially here at Turf Moor, we are capable of beating anyone. There will be a lot of twists and turns before the end of the season and hopefully we can get a few wins ourselves, and start to get ourselves up the League."

You will be coming up against the vociferous Stoke supporters on Wednesday for the first time since leaving, but I'm sure you will get a good reception. What were they like to play for?

"First and foremost, I never really got the chance to say goodbye to them, so I just want to say a big thank you to them really for everything, they stuck by me and everything I've done, through the good times and the bad, and I can't be more grateful for that really!"

Finally, have you been surprised by what Stoke have done so far this season?

"No not at all! You look at the players they've got there, the work rate, their belief, their ability and it's all geared up for success. The manager is a top guy too and I know how desperate he is to keep pushing the club on. I hope he continues to do that, because Stoke will always have a place in my heart and I want them to keep doing well. Just not tonight of course."