SIMON Francis launched a staunch defence of the tackle that had drawn a furious reaction from Jonathan Walters and insisted the striker's apparent wrath had been nothing more than gamesmanship.

As Walters attempted to break down the left wing late on in Saturday's clash at Vitality Stadium, Francis caught the Republic of Ireland international on the ankle when he made a sliding challenge.

The pair then squared up before Francis was booked by referee Graham Scott, one of Cherries' four yellow cards in the 3-1 defeat.

Reflecting on Walters's reaction, Francis told the Daily Echo: "I think he played up to it. He was in front of the Stoke fans.

"It wasn't a dirty tackle by any means, I tried to get the ball. It was late on in the game and it was frustration more than anything.

"He stood up and there was a bit of gamesmanship in front of the Stoke fans to get them up and at it. Nothing was said, really."

Francis felt referee Scott had failed to "put his stamp" on a Premier League clash in which Stoke repeatedly used time-wasting tactics in a bid to preserve their lead.

The stand-in skipper said: "I felt the referee took his time and didn't seem to rush them too much. He gave free-kicks to us when he could have just let play go on.

"That wasted seconds and I know that's not a massive thing but it's frustrating more than anything.

"I felt the referee let them slow the game down without putting his stamp on it and that was disappointing.

"I'm fine with their players doing it because we would do the same. That was their game plan. If they can give away 'good fouls' on the halfway line or slow it down when they get a foul, that's game management and experience from them."

Francis admitted that Stoke's tactic of sitting deep and winning possession primarily in their own half had worked well.

He said: "It's always tough when you play against a team that drops off because there aren't many gaps to exploit.

"When you are receiving the ball high and their line is quite high, it's difficult to get balls in behind for our pacy players and balls into feet are going to be into tight spaces.

"We have become accustomed to that over the years because it happened in the Championship and League One. We got our rewards then but today was a different day and you have to give credit to them because their game plan worked."

Discussing the overall fixture, Francis added: "We are frustrated more than anything. It was a big game for us and one we knew we could get a result from.

"We started well enough in the first 10 minutes but went a goal down against the run of play and for the rest of the half we almost lost our confidence a little bit.

"We got in at half-time and the gaffer said some words that stuck with us and we tried to go out and make it right. But you can't give away two goals in two minutes against anyone in this division because you get punished.

"We've had setbacks before in this division and in other divisions. The key thing about the character in our squad is that we can always bounce back and we're going to have to do that now."