EDDIE Howe wants to discover what was going through Roger East's mind when he contacts the official's bosses to discuss two controversial decisions during Cherries’ victory at Stoke.

Referee East inexplicably denied Howe’s side a penalty when Callum Wilson’s 10th minute burst into the box was halted by Ryan Shawcross’s mistimed lunge.

The man in the middle compounded that error by awarding the home team a soft spot-kick for Simon Francis’s challenge on Bojan Krkic early in the second half.

Bojan crashed his penalty against the crossbar, after Cherries had responded to East’s earlier erroneous call by scoring the game’s only goal, through Nathan Ake.

Nevertheless, Howe will be in touch with Mike Riley, general manager of Professional Game Match Officials Limited, on Monday morning.

"I want clarity on the decisions and to know what was going through Roger’s mind,” said Howe. “I’ll get feedback, that’s natural when you ask a question. They’re very good at coming back to you. I’d want some feedback on that and to find out why (East made those decisions).

"I felt the two big decisions in the game he got wrong. The first one for us is a clear penalty and I don't think the one he gives them is a penalty.

"It's difficult enough having to come here when officials get all the decisions right, never mind when the two major ones in the game go against you."

Howe tried to keep a lid on his frustrations as those key rulings went in favour of the hosts. Nevertheless, Cherries' boss cut an exasperated figure on the touchline as East waved away Wilson’s pleas for a spot-kick – a decision that was met by widespread bemusement.

Indeed, Shawcross’s foul was blatant enough for the commentary on Stoke City’s official Twitter account to declare, “Shawcross is a lucky man, as he fouls Wilson in the area. It should have been a penalty and a possible sending off.”

Gary Lineker also used that incident to plug Saturday night’s Match of the Day, the show's presenter tweeting, “Wait until you see the penalty not given to Bournemouth at Stoke on MOTD. Tough to find a poorer decision this season.”

Asked by the Daily Echo if he was worried East’s early oversight indicated it wouldn’t be his team’s day, Howe said: "There are a lot of emotions and thoughts that go through your head. And that is one of them.

“But you have to focus on the next passage of play, on the next moment. Because you can’t lose yourself in the emotion and get sent to the stands and all that nonsense.

“You have to try to focus on things you can actually influence, which is the remainder of the game."

Cherries' victory was achieved despite Howe being forced to make two changes to his hitherto ever-present back five.

And the manager welcomed the selection dilemma presented to him by the excellent contributions of Ake and goalkeeper Adam Federici.

“The pleasing thing is we lost an outstanding player in Adam Smith and the back four wasn’t effected,” said Howe.

“You want players to give you problems and headaches in terms of selection. I’ve always maintained that, so this will be a nice one to have.”