Saturday 23 September 2017 21:45, UK
Eddie Howe insists Bournemouth produced their best performance of the season despite losing 2-1 to Everton at Goodison Park.
Josh King gave Bournemouth the lead in the 49th minute and their advantage could have been doubled minutes later when Jermain Defoe was denied by goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Everton hit back late with Oumar Niasse coming off the bench to score his first two league goals for the club to turn around a game which looked to be heading Bournemouth's way, and Howe felt the defeat was harsh on them.
"The performance today is probably our best of the season," Howe told Sky Sports.
"We have to take great heart and the team is in a better shape now. Obviously that has to reflect in the points and that's why it's disappointing we didn't pick anything up today.
"We were good today," he added. "The performance of the players was strong and I thought we looked solid defensively; Everton struggled to break us down. We were good with the ball and created a number of chances, especially in the second half.
"The frustrating thing from our perspective is we've come away with nothing after all that good play."
Defeat leaves Bournemouth second-bottom with just three points from six games so far but Howe has backed his players to start converting their good performances into points soon.
"The first goal they score is the game changer," he added. "It changed the atmosphere in the ground. It comes out of nothing from our perspective.
I felt we were still in control and they never really threatened our goal. As soon as that moment happened the swing of the game changed and we struggled to deal with the second goal as well. But it's out of context in the game and the frustrating thing is there are so many good things but that gets lost now.
"I've never doubted the ability of the players we have and hopefully that will show in the points we pick up in the next few weeks."
