CHERRIES manager Eddie Howe saw Brett Pitman reach a memorable double goalscoring milestone before hailing the striker “a very clever footballer”.

Pitman continued his rapid rise through Cherries’ list of all-time leading marksmen when he netted two penalties during Saturday’s 3-3 draw at Middlesbrough.

His exploits saw him replace Dickie Dowsett as the club’s fifth highest league goalscorer – with Pitman having climbed no fewer than 25 places after hitting 49 goals in his past 76 games for Cherries.

The 25-year-old’s two spot-kicks at the Riverside also saw him bring up a century of league goals, his haul made up of 80 for Cherries and 20 for former club Bristol City.

His tally for Cherries has come from 208 appearances, including 76 from the bench, and leaves him behind only Ron Eyre, Ted MacDougall, Steve Fletcher and James Hayter in the club’s hall of fame.

Howe, who re-signed Pitman from Bristol City last season, told the Daily Echo: “It is an excellent achievement from someone I have known a long time. It pleases you to see someone who has worked as hard as he has, do as well as he has.

“He has always had a knack for scoring goals but his all-round game has developed and evolved through time and he is certainly a different player to the one I first saw.

“He hasn’t lost his ability to score but he is a much better all-round player now and a very clever footballer. Hopefully, there is a lot more to come from him in a Bournemouth shirt.”

Pitman plundered his 16th and 17th career penalties for Cherries to put them 2-0 in front after just 12 minutes on Teesside.

And although strikes from Kei Kamara, Mustapha Carayol and Grant Leadbitter saw Boro edge ahead, Jonathan Woodgate’s late own goal saw Cherries claim a hard-earned point.

Pitman told the Daily Echo: “We could not have dreamed of having a better start. We were bright, we passed the ball well and gave them real problems.

“But when a team goes 2-0 down so early, they tend to become a bit looser and chase the game. Boro did that and it caused us a lot of problems because, all of a sudden, their wingers and midfielders weren’t tracking back.

“We showed great character to come back from 3-2 down and it showed we had learned from other away games this season. Maybe at Huddersfield and Watford when we went down, we stayed down but the start and end were probably our best spells against Boro.”

Asked about his goalscoring achievements, Pitman said: “It is great to have become the club’s fifth all-time leading goalscoring. I am going to be here for a while yet so, hopefully, I can try to catch the others. It would certainly be nice to catch Fletch – maybe by Christmas!”

AFC Bournemouth’s top-five league goalscorers

1 – Ronnie Eyre 202

2 – Ted MacDougall 119

3 – Steve Fletcher 103

4 – James Hayter 94

5 – Brett Pitman 80