HONEST Chris Mepham admitted his mistakes hindered Cherries against Burnley and insisted: “We are not safe at all.”

Despite taking an early lead courtesy of an Ashley Barnes own-goal at Vitality Stadium, the Clarets equalised as Chris Wood found space to meet a deep Ashley Westwood corner to head in from a yard out.

Burnley then quickly netted again when Mepham’s scuffed clearance presented Westwood with a chance to notch his second goal of the season, which he duly converted.

Barnes redeemed himself after the restart to net a third for Sean Dyche’s men after a fumble by Asmir Begovic.

The 3-1 defeat, Cherries’ sixth in nine games, dropped them a place to 13th in the Premier League table, still 10 points clear of the relegation zone.

Mepham told the Daily Echo: “We know we are in for a fight and we know the games we’ve got remaining are going to be tough because the teams we’ve got are down the bottom as well.

“We’ve got to have the mindset that we are not safe at all. We could easily get dragged into the bottom three if we’re not careful.

“We need to prevent that from happening.”

Reflecting further on conceding to the Clarets, the Wales international added: “I hold my hands up for the second goal and to a degree the first goal.

“It was my man, Chris Wood. I think there was a miscommunication with who was picking him up.

“But definitely on the second goal, I needed to get my foot through it and clear my lines. I misjudged the cross and it was a poor clearance in the end.

“It’s obviously frustrating, the goals we conceded. They were really preventable.

“We got an early goal, which is always good. It gave us a platform to build on but we didn’t really stamp our authority after we got the goal.

“I thought we could’ve kept our foot on the pedal and gone for the second but we conceded pretty much straight after.”

As well as the poor defending, Cherries also struggled to regularly test Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton, with just two shots on target all afternoon.

The closest the hosts came to pulling a goal back was when Callum Wilson volleyed over in stoppage time.

And Mepham admits the Dorset club did not give their own supporters enough excitement in front of goal, with some booing the side off at full-time.

The Wales international said: “You’re at home in front of a home crowd and you want to give the fans something to cheer about, but we didn’t.

“I think we were quite lethargic during the game and we didn’t really create any clear-cut chances.

“They controlled the game and I didn’t really feel like we were putting them under much pressure and made it easy for them.”