CHERRIES boss Eddie Howe admitted he could not be anything but positive about the performance that resulted in a 2-2 draw at Ipswich.

Efforts from Steve Cook and Matt Ritchie saw the visitors twice draw level with their hosts as the Dean Court side kept themselves in the Championship play-off race.

Although Cherries could not claim victory despite having the lion’s share of possession and chances in Suffolk, Howe had plenty of praise for his players.

He told the Daily Echo: “I leave happy with the performance, happy with the efforts of the players and happy with the determination to never give up but just disappointed we didn’t get our rewards.

“For 15 or 20 minutes at the end we had them penned in. Unfortunately the ball didn’t bounce our way and we couldn’t get the goal we wanted.

“For the rest of the game we moved the ball very well and were the braver team in possession and I thought we were dominant. Somehow we found a way to concede the first goal while being in total control.

“I think it was the first time they had been in our box that they scored so it’s disappointing for us that despite having created chances and dominated, we found ourselves 1-0 down.

“It’s a measure of the team that we responded and got an equaliser. We didn’t let the goal affect us negatively and it was a similar pattern in the second half - we conceded and showed real guts to come back.”

Cook scored a superb bicycle kick to put Cherries level at 1-1 heading into the break and Howe admitted the centre-half’s finish was a special effort.

He added: “I think you can certainly call it a wondergoal. It was an overhead kick showing real technical ability not usually seen from a centre-half.

“I’ve certainly tried them but they never went anywhere near the top corner. It’s very rare that a centre-half has the athletic ability to do that, so it was a great goal.”