DOMINIC Solanke believes scoring the first goal was the “key thing” to Cherries ending their winless run.

Eddie Howe’s men had not won in their previous six Premier League matches, failing to score in any of their past four as they tumbled into the relegation zone.

But they got back on track with a 3-1 success against Brighton & Hove Albion at Vitality Stadium on Tuesday, taking the lead on 36 minutes when Solanke teed up Harry Wilson to lash in.

“I think it was a good performance from us,” the striker told the Daily Echo.

“In the past few games we’ve conceded first and it’s been a bit downhill from there.

“We got the first goal on Tuesday and you saw that we built on that and managed to get another two after that and then we managed to win the game by two goals, which we haven’t done often so it was good.

“The key thing was scoring first. Maybe in the first 20 minutes Brighton had quite a lot of possession but we did well to make sure that we didn’t concede and we did get that goal and then the game changed.”