MARKSMAN Charlie Daniels admits he may use his "licence to shoot" more regularly after firing an astonishing strike against Manchester City.

The marauding defender opened the scoring in Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Vitality Stadium with an audacious thunderbolt from the corner of the box which kissed the underside of the bar on its way in.

Having labelled the rocket effort the best of his career, Daniels revealed he could become more trigger-happy in future, even if that mindset contrasts with Cherries' typically "intricate" attacking play.

Daniels, who now has seven Premier League goals to his name, said: "It was a very good goal and it was nice how it ended up. The ball bounced nicely as I was running on to it so I thought I would have a shot.

"I've scored a few good goals but that's definitely the best so far. Maybe I should shoot a little bit more often if everything ends up like that. If it falls like that, why not?

"We like to play intricately, I think everyone knows that. But sometimes if it's there to be hit, just hit it. If you don't shoot, you don't score so if it's on, you have full licence to shoot."

Although Raheem Sterling's 97th-minute winner broke Cherries hearts, Eddie Howe's men were much improved from their Premier League defeats to West Brom and Watford.

And Daniels believes his team can take confidence from the battling display against Pep Guardiola's expensively-assembled side.

He said: "I think we realise how good our overall performance was.

"We need a bit of time to digest what has happened and we will review it. There are plenty of positives to take out of the game.

"In the first couple of games we were just too flat. We probably needed that to kick-start our season. If you saw the way we played, our doggedness off the ball, the way we fought and put our bodies on the line, how determined we were, it was very pleasing.

"We've got a little bit of our mojo back so altogether it was good apart from the result."

Daniels emerged from the dressing room with a City shirt in his hand, the result of a pre-match request by the 30-year-old for the visiting players to sign it.

And the ex-Tottenham youngster explained he had asked the question with a charitable cause in mind.

He said: "I'm doing an auction for prostate cancer and the whole team were kind enough to sign the shirt.

"I asked them in advance before they got here and it was nice of them to do it, so I'd like to say thanks to them."

Daniels and his team-mates – those not on international duty – are now set for a sustained stint of tough training under Eddie Howe's watchful eye before the return to league action against Arsenal on Saturday, September 9.

The full-back added: "I don't think anything changes. That's our work ethic, that's the way we have always done things and that's what has got us here, so there is no reason for us to change."