Defender Mee delighted with growth at the club

The 27-year-old was brought to the club, initially on loan, by Eddie Howe in the summer of 2011 and reached the milestone in the 4-1 victory over Sunderland on New Year’s Eve.

The centre-back then netted his first goal of the season, his sixth for the club, in the 2-1 reversal at the Etihad in the first Premier League game of 2017.

He said: “I was really pleased with that [playing 200th game]. From leaving here and making the move it’s been a very good move for me and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

“I’ve improved, I’ve got a lot more experience. It’s about improving all the time and continuing to get better.

“I came here as a centre half and now I’m back playing there and I want to prove that I’m a Premier League centre half, that’s a big aim for me.”

The Clarets go in to tomorrow’s FA Cup third round tie against the Black Cats without a win in 10 games in all competitions on the road. However, Mee believes that recent performances will cause opposition teams to be on their guard.

“I think a lot of people will be worried about us,” he said. “We’re playing well, we’re winning at home and we’re tough to beat. We’re confident and it’s looking okay for us, but we want to push on this year and see where we can go.

“We won’t take anything for granted, we need to keep going and get more points. We’ll look to improve this year and kick on from where we are, now sit back and think it was a good year. We wanted to kick on and do well and see where it takes us.”

Ahead of the trip to Wearside, Mee added: “The performances have been better, we’ve been competing well. We’ve got to play a few of the teams around us away from home. We’ll take confidence from these games and we’ll get that win soon.

“It would be nice to get a win away from home in any form and the FA Cup is our next game. It would boost us and it would be nice to get an away win for sure.”