DEFENDER Charlie Daniels admitted Cherries could have "no excuses" after falling to an opening-day defeat against West Brom.

Baggies defender Ahmed Hegazi headed the only goal of the game from a free kick seven minutes before the break.

Despite dominating possession, Cherries failed to test West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster.

Cherries mustered just two shots on target – both coming late in the game – from nine attempts at goal.

Left-back Daniels told the Daily Echo the team had been far from their best.

“I don’t want so make any excuses for us. I could say a couple of things but there’s no excuses,” said Daniels.

“It is down to us and we’ll take it. We know we have to be much better next week if we want to get any points.

“It’s very frustrating, but it is what West Brom play for. They are good at set-pieces and I’m in no doubt they will score plenty more from them.

“They defended deeply, created against us on the counter-attack and played for set-pieces.

“It was just very disappointing they scored from a set-piece. They had a lot of set-pieces and I thought we dealt with them quite well – nullified them to slim chances.

“From our point of view, it’s really frustrating because we worked a lot on it during pre-season. It’s just one lapse in concentration and you don’t come away with any points.”

Cherries were on the back foot in the early stages of the game and failed to produce their typical free-flowing style.

Although seeing plenty of the ball, Eddie Howe’s side were unable to break through an organised West Brom defence.

“I think the most disappointing thing for us today is we had a lot of possession, but didn’t create enough chances to go with the possession,” Daniels added.

“It wasn’t the way we like to play. You could say it’s credit to them because they defended as a unit, but we didn’t move the ball quick enough today.”

“We review it, assess the whole game and know what we can work on for next week.”

After another opening day defeat in the Premier League, AFC Bournemouth play their next two league fixtures at Vitality Stadium either side of the second round League Cup tie at Birmingham.

Cherries claimed 31 of their 46 points in the league from home matches last season and Daniels is expecting the team to raise their game against Watford.

“We believe in ourselves. We believe we can achieve great things here and we need to start by getting some points on the board next week,” Daniels said.

“Playing our first home game in front of our fans and trying to get back to the way Bournemouth play with fast attacking football is what we’ll look to do.

“We will try to create a lot of chances and take the game to the opposition.”