Eddie Howe rues Bournemouth's defensive lapses in Brighton draw

Eddie Howe praised Bournemouth's spirit against Brighton but warned they must defend better to start winning consistently.

The Cherries fought back from a goal down on two occasions to claim a 2-2 draw at the Amex Stadium, with strikes from Steve Cook and Callum Wilson cancelling out efforts from Anthony Knockaert and Glenn Murray.

Howe was pleased with the fightback, but he urged his side to make things easier for themselves going forward.

"It's frustration for us that we gave them the goals at the start of both halves," he told Sky Sports.

"We had to work really hard to get back into the game. The lads showed great fighting spirit to come back twice. I'm very pleased with their efforts in the last few days.

"Both the timing and the manner in which we conceded those goals is disappointing because we have to work so hard for ours, that's been a feature of our recent games but we've rediscovered our goalscoring form.

"Two goals from set-plays today, while the second one was scrappy it's still good to see us scoring goals again. But we needed to defend better to win today, that was a possibility for us.

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"It's an away point, we wanted three but we'll take the point - it's important we don't lose to teams in and around us. It's been a good little spell for us but we've got to continue picking up points."

Howe left the door open to possible January signings but stressed the need to assess his injury-plagued squad before entering the market.

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He added: "First and foremost we need to see what our injury situation is and what players will be out. Once we know more on that we can make the right decision."

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