Mee time was a help to Sean

SEAN DYCHE believes tactical changes before Burnley’s last game with Brighton gave the Clarets a fighting chance this season.

A draw at the Amex in November brought the Clarets just their second point of the season following a wretched start.

But after the international break which followed they beat Crystal Palace and have banked a further five victories since to sit eight points clear of the bottom three.

Now, they face Brighton again today at Turf Moor.

Dyche said: “We did go defensive on that day.

With Ben Mee back in, we had to protect him a bit but we made sure the shape was resilient.

“We’ve grown into the season more since then. We’ve got more mature. “I was pretty understanding about the realities of the season, there was a lot going on at the start, we had a lot of injuries.” Burnley head into a run of games against their rivals at the bottom of the table and Dyche (inset) said: “There is a fair view that there are certain teams that everyone outside the elite clubs think they should be more competitive against.”