IN-FORM Cherries striker Callum Wilson thanked Joshua King and Lys Mousset for bailing him out against Stoke after revealing he should have had a hat-trick.

Substitutes King and Mousset came off the bench to score within the space of nine second-half minutes as Cherries came from behind to see off the Potters.

Wilson had earlier seen a series of presentable chances go begging as the striker failed to add to his tally of four goals in his previous six Premier League games.

The 25-year-old’s exploits have been pivotal to Cherries embarking on a club-best seven-match unbeaten run in the top flight – with his controversial late leveller against West Ham on Boxing Day sparking the sequence.

Despite missing the first three months of the season as he recovered from long-term injury, Wilson returned with a bang and is Cherries’ leading goalscorer having hit eight in all competitions.

“I could have been out there all night and wouldn’t have scored!” joked Wilson. “I was disappointed because I should have had a hat-trick.

“Even though I was delighted we got the three points, I was disappointed on a personal note because I had so many opportunities. I need to be putting them away.”

Xherdan Shaqiri’s fifth-minute header gave Stoke a lead they preserved until King came off the bench to level 20 minutes from time. And Frenchman Mousset bagged his first goal in the Premier League to seal victory nine minutes later.

Cherries have been behind on five occasions during their recent purple patch – including twice against West Ham on Boxing Day – but have come back to draw with the Hammers and Brighton and beat Arsenal and Stoke.

Wilson added: “We knew before the game we had an opportunity to make history for the club and that was one of our motivations for the victory. Thankfully, we got it.

“The most important thing was the end result. The performance dipped a little, understandably, after everybody had put in so much effort at Chelsea.

“Again, we showed great character. We have been behind in a few games on this run and have managed to come back and get positive results.

“You bank on all your attacking players to score and your midfielders to chip in.

“When we go a goal down at the moment, we are not losing any faith and all believe we can get back into the game. We just keep playing our stuff against Stoke and eventually we broke them down.

“It is so much fun as a striker playing in this team because you know you are going to get chances. It is disappointing when you don’t take them but the most important thing was the three points.

“If you look at our fixtures, we have to fancy ourselves against the teams we are coming up against.

“We want to stay unbeaten for as long as possible and want to make more history by making it eight or nine games.”