PLAYER-coach Tim Collier insisted Bournemouth had plenty to be proud of despite defeat at Brixham on Saturday.

Lions were sunk 38-26 at Astley Park – their first National Three South West loss in three weeks – but still picked up a losing bonus point.

And Collier was keen to focus on the positives of the display in Devon, which he labelled as the most impressive since his return to the club last month.

Collier told the Daily Echo: “We’re disappointed to lose but at least we turned up and put in a performance – it was the best we’ve played since I’ve been back.

“Four weeks ago, people would have said that scoring four tries away from home was impossible. That losing point may end up dragging us a position higher in the league.

“We’re in a very good place now. The backs played phenomenally well but it was the set piece where we fell apart a little bit.

“If we had put both of those together then we would have come up with a win.”

An early penalty by fly-half Ben Lovell put Brixham in front and an unconverted try extended the advantage to 6-0.

However, before the 15-minute mark Bournemouth’s Wyn Roberts broke clear and Jon Sanchez added the extras.

The hosts then took a grip on proceedings as Lovell kicked a couple more penalties – one via the upright – to make it 14-7.

With the interval drawing closer, Tom McLean crossed the whitewash and Lovell’s conversion improved Brixham’s position.

Jack Hennings replied with a timely try but a missed conversion meant that Lions trailed 21-12 at the break.

Lovell kicked the hosts further in front soon after the resumption but a couple of converted tries within a few minutes saw Bournemouth inch ahead for the first time.

First George Antoniades – newly-returned from international duty with Cyprus – touched down and then captain Alan Manning did the same, with both scores converted by Sanchez.

However, a converted try restored Brixham’s lead, with Bournemouth’s Sam Hardcastle incorrectly sin-binned in the aftermath following an offence by team-mate Tony Dunkerley.

With just five points in it, wing Matt Crosscombe scored Brixham’s fourth try and Lovell completed his 18-point haul but slotting the conversion between the uprights.

Collier continued: “The sin bin at the end didn’t help and we struggled after we went down to 14 men.

“Everyone fought until the dying seconds to try and win the game and we were unfortunate against a very well drilled side.”