Defender Mee happy to see shirt pull punished

The Clarets fell behind within the opening minute as Bobby Zamora struck for the unbeaten Seagulls.

But Burnkey responded immediately, winning a corner, from which Michael Keane had the shirt torn from his body by Lewis Dunk.

Brighton biss Chris Hughton was disapointed with the decision, as Andre Gray converted from the spot for his 11th goal of the season.

But Mee was in close attendance to the incident, and he said: “I wasn’t far away.

“I heard the rip on his shirt when it happened, so I think that gave it away.

“I thought it was a penalty and it was nice to see it given for once, because a lot of the time you don’t get those sort of decisions.”

Jostling and shirt-pulling in the area is often allowed to go unpunished, and, asked if referees discuss their interpretation of the rules, Mee added: “Some do, some don’t.

“Some say they’ve seen it but then you get a forearm smash in the face and they don’t see that.

“It was good that he gave it.”

Hughton felt the penalty incident was something which happens in every game up and down the country without anyone batting an eyelid: “Having seen it, there’s no doubt Lewis has got some of his shirt, but I think also the lads had as well and you see that every game.

“In our last home game, Lewis was pulled in the box at a corner.

“It just feels very harsh that he chose to give it at that time when it’s something you see so often.”

After the equaliser, the sides were fairly evenly-balanced, although the Clarets had the better chances to win, and Mee added: “It was very tight. Two good teams to be fair. They were decent, and at home ourselves we’re strong.

“We’ll take the positives out of it and move on.”

The former Manchester City youngster was disappointed with Zamora’s goal: “It was a bit of a ricochet everywhere I think.

“We wanted to start the game well and we were a bit disappointed with that. But we reacted well, got the penalty and created a few more chances straight away after that.

“To be fair they came here and gave it a go. We had a few chances but I think overall it’s quite a fair result on the overall play.”

Hughton felt a draw was a fair result: “I think you have got to give the team credit, because taking the lead and getting the lift from that and then conceding the penalty, you might see a team dip for a while but we were always in the game.

“They probably got more balls into the box and were a little bit more threatening in the final third but we built through the thirds very well.”