CHERRIES boss Eddie Howe admitted he had been left “baffled” having watched his side suffer a 2-1 reverse at Nottingham Forest tonight.

Howe's men made a flying start and led through Andrew Surman’s curling effort but Forest belied their dearth of possession and hit back to lead at half-time through Jamaal Lascelles and Henri Lansbury's free-kick.

Cherries kept probing after the break but found no way through a stubborn Forest rearguard.

Howe told the Daily Echo: “With the way we started the game I was baffled to have lost that game.

"We came out of the traps very quickly, played some great football and scored a really good goal and you thought it would be a really good night for us.

“Our two wide men and full-backs were excellent and our midfielders dominated the game but unfortunately for us, we slightly lost our momentum after that and conceded a poor goal from a set-piece and then a free-kick right on half-time.

“I was very pleased with how the players performed for long spells but we became a bit desperate to chase the game and score.

“Some of our decision-making was slightly off towards the end and we did not work the goalkeeper enough the longer it went on.

"Apart from that I could not criticise the players at all, I thought we gave a strong performance.”

Meanwhile, Howe questioned the decision of referee Nigel Miller to award a free-kick against Simon Francis from which Lansbury scored the winning goal.

“I thought Simon got the ball,” said Howe. “That was my first impression and I thought the referee did not have the best of games.

“Take the decisions out of it, the time wasting element at the end baffled me.

"There were six substitutions and God knows how much time wasting going on and he played four (extra) minutes. I thought that was really poor.”