Eddie Howe hails Bournemouth character after victory over Everton

Image: Eddie Howe believes his side were good value for the three points against Everton

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe praised his side's character after Ryan Fraser scored twice in the 2-1 win over Everton at the Vitality Stadium.

The Cherries rescued a point in the 3-3 thriller against West Ham on Boxing Day and looked to be heading for another draw after Steve Cook's error invited Idrissa Gueye to cancel out Fraser's first-half opener.

But having conceded from another unforced error, Bournemouth recovered to regain the lead with two minutes remaining as Fraser's shot deflected in off Michael Keane to end a run of eight games without a league win.

Howe was delighted with the manner in which his side were rewarded with three points for showing the greater endeavour.

Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe praised his side’s performance, in particular two-goal Ryan Fraser

He said: "It was another incredible game. We showed tremendous character, and I was delighted to see the second goal go in.

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"We managed the game in the second half until their goal, which came from our mistake, and then the lads had to dig deep.

"Unless you've been following us the past few weeks, you won't know we've been shooting ourselves in the foot a little bit with individual errors. But we showed great character to fight back and win the game. I thought we deserved it."

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Bournemouth created the clearer chances and, but for a string of saves from the impressive Jordan Pickford, Howe's men would have had the win wrapped up long before the closing stages.

Fraser was at the heart of the action throughout, flashing in the opener from Josh King's cross on 33 minutes to punish Everton's sluggish start.

The Scot continually combined well down the left with Adam Smith to cause problems for Jonjoe Kenny and the pressure eventually told when he cut inside to fire home his second goal two minutes from time.

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"I thought he was excellent today," Howe said of Fraser's man-of-the-match display. "His general performances the last few weeks have been very high.

"He's very good with the ball, he's developed his strength and he's an incredible character. When the chips are down we turn to our creative players, and he came up trumps today.

"We've picked up another injury in Josh King, but we've got one or two bodies coming back so it's a little bittersweet today. It looks like a hamstring problem so that could be a minimum of two weeks.

"We are a little light in the striker department now with Josh's injury so we'll have to wait and see if that changes our transfer policy."

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