UPBEAT Matt Ritchie vowed that Cherries would rapidly return to top form after they had fallen to a disappointing defeat at Norwich.

The visitors were condemned to a third loss in the Premier League after the Wes Hoolahan-inspired Canaries recorded a comfortable 3-1 victory at Carrow Road.

Cameron Jerome poked Norwich in front from Hoolahan's cross and the latter bagged a second after the break when he charged forward and rammed home from the edge of the box.

New loan recruit Matt Jarvis added a well-taken third for Alex Neil's side and although defender Steve Cook nodded home his first Premier League goal late on, it proved nothing more than a consolation.

Ritchie, who played the full 90 minutes in Norfolk, admitted that Cherries had failed to hit the heights of earlier performances. But he insisted the camp would return stronger when Sunderland visit the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.

He told the Daily Echo: "We didn't perform as well as we normally do, certainly nowhere near the standards we've set this season. It didn't quite click and we never really got going.

"I don't think we'd have created as much as we'd have liked. You can't play to your absolute maximum every week, although of course that's what you aim to do.

"We're very disappointed but we will move on quickly and concentrate on Saturday. It's about how we react now.

"It's a great strength of ours that when we do have a disappointment, we bounce back from it quickly. We will make sure we get our heads down, work hard and get back to doing what we do best.

"What the performance against Norwich was down to, I'm not sure, but we will go back and review it and bounce back next week."

Ritchie also played down the significance of Cherries' defeat to another promoted club, stating that there would be plenty of chances to pick up points over the course of the campaign.

He added: "It's early days. The media might say the Norwich game was a six-pointer between two clubs that have come up but that's not how we look at it.

"There's 19 other teams in the Premier League and we are competing with every one of them. It's not just between us and the other teams that came up.

"We earned the right to be here and this was one game in which we did not perform – but we will put it right."