AUDIO: Burnley defenders get their rewards

And fellow defender David Edgar admits the side have been inspired by the former Manchester City man, who threw his head at a shot from Noel Hunt to prevent a certain goal on Friday night.

The Canadian feels that shows the length the players will go to to keep out the opposition - and the statistics back him up.

Burnley had to wait uintil October for their first clean sheet of the season - at tomorrow’s opponents Millwall.

And their second against Ipswich started a run of seven shut outs in 14 games.

Only Reading and Birmingham boast a better defensive record in that period, and Edgar looked back at Mee’s selfless block: “At first I thought he’d handled it, which I thought was quite smart, but he’d stuck his face in front of the ball.

“But that’s the kind of player Ben is.

“We can count on two hands the amount of times he’s been hit in the face this season.

“It’s always happened to him; he had his teeth knocked out in training for Man City and it always seems that the ball is hitting him in the face.

“He puts his body on the line - as does the rest of the back four. Tripps was clearing balls off the line as well, and it’s because we don’t like being scored against.

“We do it in training. It’s about putting your body on the line, especially as a defender. You’ve got to be brave and that showed with our run of clean sheets.”

The side are also showing a different type of bravery, in wanting to fulful their manager’s footballing philosophy, even when things go against them.

Eddie Howe wants his players to pass, pass, pass, and Edgar is an advocate: “There’s times to play out. If that’s the philosophy then we need to stick to it.

“I think that’s what the gaffer’s most happy about from the Reading performance because we stuck to it throughout the 90 minutes and we tried to play.

“We will make mistakes, there’s no doubt about it, but that’s the kind of football we want to play and we’re all buying in to it.

“It’s a different kind of bravery but we’ve played some really good stuff out from the back.

“You’ve got to be brave to try it.