EDDIE Howe praised referee Jon Moss for admitting his decision not to award Cherries a penalty in the 1-1 draw against Southampton had been wrong.

After Adam Smith went to ground under a challenge from Sofiane Boufal at Vitality Stadium on Sunday, Moss awarded the visitors a free-kick and booked the Cherries defender for simulation.

The yellow card incurred by Smith was his fifth caution of the season, meaning he is banned for tomorrow's Premier League trip to Crystal Palace.

Smith claimed the West Yorkshire official had apologised to him after the game and admitted he had made the wrong call.

Reflecting on the incident, Howe said: "The referee deserves credit for that – I'm not going to criticise him for admitting he made a mistake.

"I think that's fine and that is agreed with in the referee's report, that he got the decision wrong.

"All you can ask is people reflect, analyse and try to improve themselves. That's what I would say to any of my players who make a mistake and it's the same with referees.

"The rules are that nothing can be done for Adam or for us with the penalty decision but that's football."

Asked if the rules needed to be looked at in cases where referees admitted to an incorrect call, Howe added: "I don't want to be clever over one incident which leads to a change of rule necessarily. The rules are there for a reason.

"We've been unfortunate in this case but they say it evens itself out so we will wait for that one to come back in our favour."