By Jonathan Nagioff (@jonathannagioff)
AFC Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe praised his side’s spirit, as they returned to winning ways with a pulsating 3-2 victory over Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday night.
The Cherries progressed to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup in dramatic fashion with Callum Wilson striking at the death to deny Rovers a shootout, after the away side fought back from two goals down to level proceedings at the Vitality Stadium.
It was a welcome victory for the Dorset club following their shock 4-0 defeat at Burnley on Saturday and Howe was delighted to see the response from his side.
Howe told the media after the game: “We desperately needed a performance and reaction after the Burnley game.
“I placed great importance on the game and how we prepared for it.
“I’m delighted to win and delighted with a lot of aspects of the performance. Some players have done their chances no harm.”
The Cherries let a two-goal cushion slip from their grasp with Craig Conway and Adam Armstrong cancelling out earlier strikes from Junior Stanislas and Jordon Ibe.
And Howe has urged his side to develop a more ruthless streak after seeing his side miss a host of opportunities.
He continued: “Only we could do to ourselves what we did tonight!
“We created so many chances and maybe could’ve enjoyed the last part of the game, but we shot ourselves in the foot twice.
“It’s frustrating when you’re missing chances but it’s a massive positive to be creating them.
“When you go back to a lot of games this season, Burnley included, we’ve created a hatful of chances and haven’t always been clinical.
“The Leicester game apart, when we were ruthless that day, every other game I think we’ve been wasteful in front of goal at times.”
The Cherries face Crystal Palace on Monday night with kick off at 8pm.
Wilson elated for ‘good friend’ Stanislas