STRIKER Jermain Defoe admitted his first season with Cherries had been “frustrating” but said he still had a lot to offer the club.

Defoe, who enjoyed a hugely-successful loan spell at Dean Court in 2000-01, penned a three-year deal when he returned in July.

He made 17 appearances – including nine starts in the Premier League – before sustaining a fractured ankle during Cherries’ Carabao Cup quarter-final at Chelsea in December.

And although the 35-year-old frontman had been expected to be sidelined for at least three months, he returned to action after just nine weeks.

However, since hitting the comeback trail, Defoe has been restricted to four appearances from the bench, including a goalscoring cameo during Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Watford.

He told the Daily Echo: “Nobody wants to sit on the bench. If you get to the point where you accept sitting on the bench then maybe you shouldn’t be playing.

“I want to play because I know there are still a lot of goals in me. You always have to wait for your opportunity and, when you get it, you have to take it and try to get back in the team.

“Normally at this stage you want to have scored 15 to 20 goals. If you haven’t, you aren’t going to be happy.

“In the past two seasons, I have scored 15 league goals so I’m not going to say I have had a good season.

“For me, it has been frustrating because it has been stop-start and I had my injury.

“If I could get a run of games, I would score goals because it’s something I have always done.

“Once you get an injury, it takes time to get back into the team. The boys have done well so we will see what happens between now and the end of the season.”

Boss Eddie Howe believes Defoe’s professionalism helped him recover from his injury earlier than had been anticipated.

Howe told the Daily Echo: “Jermain has done well with his rehab and has worked really hard to get back to this point.

“He picked up a serious injury at a time when he was playing regularly for us and it take players time to get back to their very best levels after a something like that.

“He is a massive part of what we are doing, whether it is from the bench or starting games.

“It doesn’t need me to say the fact he is still able to perform at this level is down to his professionalism, how he looks after himself, what he eats and how he trains.

“He is dedicated to his football and he loves the game so much. He is a great role model for every player in our dressing room with what he has achieved in the game.

“The experiences he has to pass on to the next generation of players coming through are brilliant.

“The way he trains, he always wants to do everything and be in the thick of it. He doesn’t want to miss anything.

“The way he conducts himself, what he eats and how professional he is, we need our young guys to look at that and think ‘that’s the path I want to take’."