ANDREW Surman leapt to the defence of Ryan Fraser and Yann Kermorgant over accusations of diving and argued the pair had been harshly treated by referee Mike Dean at Brentford.

Kermorgant and substitute Fraser received cautions from man in the middle Dean having hit the deck following challenges in the penalty area during Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Griffin Park.

Cherries trailed their hosts by a single goal on both occasions with Surman among the perplexed visiting players to protest Dean’s decisions.

Surman told the Daily Echo: “From where I was standing, I did not think there had been any simulation but the referee clearly saw it differently.

“The second one in particular looked like a stonewall penalty. Ryan did well to nick it past the defender and committed him to the tackle. It looked to me like he had made contact.

“Neither Yann nor Ryan is that type of player. Sometimes your momentum can take you over and sometimes it is not simulation, you are just trying to draw the foul.

“It was disappointing and I thought there were a couple of incidents of simulation from their side which did not get spotted.

“But the referee’s view was the one that mattered and unfortunately it did not go our way. We can’t do much about it now so we have to dust ourselves off and get on with it.

“There is no point in letting it play on our minds because it changes nothing, our focus has to be on bouncing back and getting three points at Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.”

But while Surman felt hard done by, the former Norwich midfielder acknowledged Cherries had been architects of their own downfall, while also praising the influence of Brentford loan star Alex Pritchard.

Surman added: “We did not start too badly but it was a poor goal to give away. It was not great team defending but having got back into it I thought we looked quite comfortable and caused them a few problems.

“Unfortunately, the second goal took the wind out of our sails right before half-time. It was another bad one from our point of view which left us chasing the game against a good counter-attacking team.

“We played quite well at times but shot ourselves in the foot at others.”

On Tottenham Hotspur loanee Pritchard, who bagged a goal and two assists against Cherries, Surman said: “He is a good player who stays up in that number 10 role and is very difficult to mark.

“When they are winning, it gives people like him more space and opportunities to get involved.

He was very influential but we have to look at what we could have done better.”