Howe calls on Bournemouth to respond after defeat to Stoke

Sam Nightingale

Eddie Howe: 'We have to respond very quickly.'

Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe admitted Stoke were the better team as the visitors ran out 3-1 winners in their Premier League clash at Dean Court.

Goals from Gianelli Imbula, Ibrahim Afellay and Joselu earned Stoke all three points, despite Matt Ritchie pulling one back for the home side.

Howe told the BBC: “It was a difficult game for us. We started really brightly but they scored a superb goal out of nowhere, that dented our confidence and we never recaptured that start.

“For you to win games at this level we need everyone to be on song and today we weren’t. We have to respond very quickly next week.

“Our home form has not been as good as would like. We know the difficulty of the league we are in and teams have the ability to hit us on counter attacks, but as long as we get enough points to stay up, it doesn’t matter where we get them.”