EUNAN O’Kane knows he must bide his time as he looks to establish himself at Dean Court following what he describes as an “indifferent” start to his Cherries career.

The versatile midfielder started eight of Cherries’ first 10 league games of the season following his £175,000 move from Torquay in the summer.

His ninth appearance – and first taste of victory in a Cherries shirt – came in the 2-0 win over Leyton Orient when Eddie Howe was unveiled as Paul Groves’s successor.

Since then, the 22-year-old Ulsterman has been named in every one of Howe’s nine matchday squads but has been restricted to three appearances from the bench.

O’Kane told the Daily Echo: “For me personally, it has been a bit indifferent. I was playing at the start of the season, even though the team wasn’t doing very well at that stage. The new manager came in, got us winning and, unfortunately, I haven’t played as much as I would have liked.

“But the main thing is the team winning and the club moving in the right direction and we are doing that. I am quite happy at the moment. I would like to be playing more but, sometimes, you have just got to accept that the lads are doing well.

“I don’t think there are too many players in the team who you could say have had two or three bad games in a row. If I were in their position and I got taken out for no reason when I was doing okay, I think I would be cross. Not being in the team is something you have just got to accept at times.”

O’Kane, who started out as a scholar at Everton before joining Torquay from Coleraine in January 2010, has settled in Parkstone with his girlfriend Nicole. He was one of four Gulls players named in the League Two team of the season and was also linked with a move to Cherries’ League One rivals Crawley.

He added: “Football can change from one day to the next. At the time, I made what was the right decision to come here and it still is. I have no intention of leaving or wanting to get away.

“Everything about the club is moving in the right direction from the training facilities to the way the team is now climbing the table.

“It is brilliant to be at this club but, as a player, it is frustrating not to be playing every week and that has been the hardest part for me. You have just got to knuckle down because eventually opportunities will present themselves and, if you are good enough to take them, then you will be rewarded.”

O’Kane, who netted for Torquay in their 1-0 win against Carlisle in the third round of the FA Cup in 2011, will be hoping to feature for Cherries against the Cumbrians at Brunton Park today.