DEFENDER Tyrone Mings insisted he “felt great” having returned to match action following a troublesome back problem.

The 25-year-old made his first appearance since September and played 45 minutes of Cherries’ under-21s 1-0 defeat at Southampton.

And the former Ipswich Town man believes he could be in contention for the Premier League battle at Liverpool on Saturday, April 14.

After his return, Mings told the club website: “I felt good. I came through it and wanted to stay on but, understandably, they tried to protect me. I felt great and felt fine.

“I would like to have been in the squad this weekend but realistically I need to get some game time under my belt. Hopefully I can be in selection for next week’s squad at Liverpool.”

Cherries boss Eddie Howe told the Daily Echo: “Tyrone is in good spirits and has trained well. He hasn’t had a huge amount of training time behind him but the time he has had he’s performed really well.

“I think for Tyrone we need to just cross one bridge at a time.”