CHERRIES anchorman Eunan O’Kane says confidence remains high of mounting a Championship play-off push – despite a mixed start to the campaign.

The Dean Court side have taken 12 points from their opening 10 games and are six points adrift of the top six.

Opening with victories over Huddersfield and Brentford, Cherries have failed to record back-to-back league wins since then but O’Kane insists a promotion drive remains the ambition.

Asked if finishing in the top six was still at the forefront of players’ minds, the Irishman told the Daily Echo: “I don’t think that belief has ever been in question in the dressing room.

“We’re not in an ideal position in the league but if you look at the run of games we’ve had, we’ve played a lot of teams that are expected to be at the top come the end of the season and I think we’ve more than held our own against the majority of them.

“Nottingham Forest was daylight robbery and we played well against Norwich and Derby. We put in some really good performances and maybe didn’t get what we deserved.

“In terms of whether we can still make the play-offs or be in and around it come the end of the season, I think it’s a resounding ‘yes’ from everyone in the dressing room.”

While Cherries’ current league form has been a frustration to O’Kane and his team-mates, the former Everton youngster insists that such a spell is not abnormal.

And the 24-year-old believes Cherries will ‘come out stronger’ at the other end.

He continued: “Every team goes through stages like this at some point in the year and at the minute it feels like we’re being punished for every mistake that we make.

“There are fine margins between winning and losing and at the moment we’re coming out on the wrong side.

“We went through it the season we got promoted from League One and we went through it for a while last year but came out stronger.

“There are not too many teams that have had many shots against us in any of the games. I keep bumping into goalkeepers the day after games and having the same conversation – that they didn’t have any saves to make but we still didn’t come away with a win.

“If we’re making one mistake as a group and getting punished for it then we have to get to the level where we don’t make any mistakes and then we won’t be punished for them.”