We struggled for rhythm, says Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe admitted his side struggled to find their rhythm during Saturday's 0-0 draw with Southampton at the Vitality Stadium.

Saints had the better chances with Manolo Gabbiadini guilty of missing a glorious chance in stoppage time as he headed over from Nathan Redmond's cross.

But Bournemouth rarely threatened Alex McCarthy's goal, with Nathan Ake having the first attempt on target after 73 minutes, and Howe concedes his side struggled to produce the levels of performance seen in the opening two months of the season.

"It was a game in which I felt we never truly got going," he said. "I think you could possibly say the same of them. I thought we cancelled each other out.

"It was very bitty. We had our moments, which we didn't take, but all-in-all I thought the effort was there, just the end product wasn't quite with us today.

"They hadn't really been in the match. We'd defended pretty well and then we presented them with a couple of opportunities which thankfully they didn't take."

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Despite the below-par display, Bournemouth remain sixth in the Premier League after securing a second straight clean sheet against their south coast rivals.

Howe refused to be too harsh on his players, adding: "For us to achieve back-to-back clean sheets is a good platform to go into the next game.

"That was pleasing for us because to lose would've been tough on the players who gave everything in the match. The effort was there but we just didn't have our rhythm.

"Maybe an early goal, when we were well on top, would've helped that but it didn't come. Thankfully today, we kept the clean sheet.

"We knew it was going to be very tough but the expectation for us was of course to win. The next best thing is to not get beat."

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