STAND-in skipper Simon Francis has urged Cherries to box clever while using their rage to fight back from a dreadful run of ill fortune.

Lady Luck has acted like a woman scorned towards the Vitality Stadium outfit, who are currently missing the outfield spine of last season's title-winning team and £15million worth of new talent through injury.

Those setbacks have been compounded by a handful of questionable refereeing decisions that showed no sign of abating when Stoke controversially struck their winner last Saturday having taken a debatable free kick from the wrong place.

But Francis feels Cherries can influence their fate by being wise to certain situations and not getting caught up in the emotion of feeling hard done by.

Asked whether a sense of anger had built in the dressing room, Francis told the Daily Echo: "There is an element of that but we are new to this league and knew it would be tough.

"We know we have to fight for everything and includes decisions, within the boundaries of fair play and the quicker we do that, the quicker we will get results.

"I wouldn't say refs side with the bigger, more experienced teams, it's not like that at all but when there are decisions to be made, you'd like to think the officials are good enough to make them.

"There is a sense of injustice, of course, but what can we do about it? All we can do is go out there and put it right on the pitch.

"We have just one game left before the international break and will be putting everything into getting a result against Watford."

Francis could lead the Cherries' quest for precious Premier League points against fellow new boys Watford tomorrow (3pm) should regular skipper Tommy Elphick not be ready to return from an injury that has seen him miss the club's past two top-flight matches.

On taking the armband, Francis added: "I am incredibly proud just to play for this team and even more so to wear the captain's armband, albeit in unfortunate circumstances for Tommy.

"He has been a rock for us for a long time but particularly over the past season and has been excellent at the start of this one.

"I am disappointed for him but if I can lead out the team and help us get some good results then great.

"I am proud to have done what have for this club and one thing we have always done is quickly move on from any setbacks so hopefully, we can bounce back with the right result against Watford."