HONEST Tommy Elphick shouldered his share of the blame after conceding a needless free-kick which led to Watford opening the scoring at Dean Court yesterday.

Elphick was penalised for a foul on Lewis McGugan whose set-piece was then headed home by Gabriele Angella as the Hornets broke the deadlock in first-half stoppage time.

Angella, who had netted twice in Watford’s 6-1 win over Cherries in August, climbed above the hosts’ defence to guide the ball past goalkeeper Lee Camp.

Cherries skipper Elphick said: “On a personal level, I was disappointed to give away a free-kick in that area so late in the first half. I was probably just a little too keen.

“On another day, I would just have stood my ground.

“If you give away a free-kick in a dangerous area, you are always going to leave yourselves open to it happening so it was disappointing on that front and there is stuff to work on.

“We are really well drilled on dealing with set-pieces and have two different set-ups for corners and defending wide free-kicks. He scored twice against us at their place so it was disappointing we didn’t nullify that threat.

“But there were a lot of positives to take from the game as well.”