EDDIE Howe reckons his Cherries troops will take confidence from hitting the back of the net twice in the Carabao Cup win over Birmingham.

Second-half efforts from Ryan Fraser and Marc Pugh handed the visitors a 2-1 success.

Howe said: “We wanted to win, first and foremost. There is never any part of me that puts a team out thinking we’re not good enough to win.

“Thankfully, today we were. We made it difficult for ourselves by going 1-0 down but the players showed really good character, especially with the start we’ve had this season, and we deservedly won.

“The difference between the halves was the ability to take our chances. I think we created enough – that was the pleasing thing.

"In the previous two games we had not really had a shot in anger but today we had concerted pressure.

“In the first half we created a number of chances and didn’t take them and in the second half, it was similar.

"It was nice to see two go in. I think it will give the lads a big boost going into the next game.”