TYRONE Mears returns to the scene of his top flight debut tomorrow, determined to prove his Premier League pedigree.

The right back made just three league starts in his only season with West Ham in 2006/07. Half of it was spent on loan at Derby County after a stress fracture scuppered his Upton Park career.

Even promotion, via the play-offs, with the Rams didn’t help him fulfil his promise.

But Mears is living up to the adage ‘third time lucky’ with Burnley, and is aiming to show the Hammers what they missed during a turbulent year in east London.

“It was a difficult period,” the 26-year-old reflected. “I had a stress fracture and it was difficult fitness-wise to get going really.

“I’d just had a good season at Preston in reaching the play-offs and it was a really consistent season for me so I was really looking forward to the move. West Ham had done really well the season before too, getting to the FA Cup final and staying in the league.

“But it was just a crazy, crazy season with the manager, Alan Pardew, getting sacked, Alan Curbishley coming in, (Javier) Mascherano and (Carlos) Tevez coming in.

“They’re fantastic players and you could see that when they first arrived but it wasn’t really about the two players, it was more about the team getting out of the bad form they were in at the time.

“It was just a really crazy season, and I only made a few appearances, which was really disappointing.

“It was a really good club to be at, but the West Ham fans didn’t really get to see the player I am. I went back the following season with Derby and managed to score a goal, which was nice, because obviously I wanted to put in a performance to show the fans what I could do. I think a lot of them can understand I didn’t really get a good shot at it.

“I didn’t really want to leave but they signed Lucas Neill in the January transfer window so there wasn’t much time for me to get to play and I had to leave.

“The fans are really, really passionate; I had a really good understanding with them, and I wish I could have shown them what I could do for West Ham.”

Now, his focus is on doing his best for Burnley, and building on the first away point they earned with a 3-3 draw at Manchester City - another of his former clubs - three weeks ago.

"We've always had that confidence, although it's a little bit better now with that result against Manchester City,” said Mears, relishing the challenge of retaining their top half position and distancing themselves from the struggling Hammers, who have just one home win so far.

“We've always thought we were going to get something out of the game when we play away from home, even though we've not picked up the points we wanted.

"I can only really pick out two games where I really thought we shouldn't have got anything out of an away game. A lot of the times we've given goals away when we've been in good possession of the ball and controlling the game.

“We're really, really positive - I think it's just a little bit of experience (that’s needed) “There are going to be times when we're going to be under the cosh away from home, when the other teams have got good possession, and it's important we're a bit more tight.

"No doubt we're going to attack, but there are times when we've got to pick and choose when to attack and when not to.”

But Mears believes it is the freedom to play, endorsed by manager Owen Coyle, that has helped them to grow in confidence and ignore those who continue to doubt their Premier League credentials.

“We've started the season quite well but we're still being written off by a lot of people and pundits, but the atmosphere that's created by the manager means we don't hear about it or really care about it to be honest with you.

“The manager is really, really positive and that helps us.”