Eddie Howe delighted with Bournemouth's goal-hungry attitude against Middlesbrough

Eddie Howe praised his Bournemouth side for not resting on their numerical advantage in the 4-0 victory over Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Goals from Josh King, Benik Afobe, Marc Pugh and Charlie Daniels gave Bournemouth the victory, but Middlesbrough weren't helped by Gaston Ramirez being sent off after just 20 minutes.

Howe was delighted that his side continued to push for goals despite the two-goal advantage, and says the perfect start, helped by man-of-the-match Marc Pugh, set the tone.

Howe told Sky Sports: "It was a great performance from us, I was really pleased with the players today. It was an electric start, and a well-crafted goal, and we were dominant in the early stages.

"When you consider the importance of today's game, it gave us a huge lift and dented their confidence. It was the perfect start, but thankfully we didn't rest on that and got the all-important second goal.

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"Of course the sending off had a bearing on the game from that point but it was really important we kept our discipline and went on from that in the second half.

"It was trademark Marc Pugh. Lots of intricate wide play with Charlie Daniels, a lot of quality, and highlighted by his goal."

Bournemouth are now seven points clear of the drop zone with just 12 points left to play for, but Howe insists he will not be happy until they are mathematically safe.

Asked if Bournemouth's 38 points were enough to consider them safe, Howe said: "No. You'd expect my answer to be that we need more points until we are mathematically secure, we don't want to stop and these games are important to us.

"Every game is an opportunity, that's how we look at it. But we go on with confidence on the back of today."