BOSS Eddie Howe last night finally broke his silence on Cherries’ crippling injury crisis and admitted he feared it could have wrecked their Premier League dream.

Howe was continually praised for resisting the temptation to use as an excuse the misfortune which had seriously threatened to ruin Cherries’ maiden top-flight campaign.

But while he chose not to speak publicly about a worsening casualty list, privately Howe had been concerned Cherries would struggle to overcome a run of such terrible luck.

Tommy Elphick, Callum Wilson and Harry Arter – the backbone of Cherries’ Championship-winning team – all missed large chunks of this season.

And they were joined on the treatment table by expensive summer signings Max Gradel and Tyrone Mings, who both sustained serious knee injuries in August.

In his latest exclusive interview with the Daily Echo, Howe said: “When you are in the moment, there is nothing positive to be gained from highlighting the fact you are missing some key players.

“We wanted to carry on and to try to get the best out of the players we had available. That has always been our method of working.

“The guys who have been fit all season have been an absolute credit to the football club. As a squad, they had to regroup and find the fight to go again and prove everybody wrong.

“Thankfully, the spirit we have had throughout our time here hasn’t diminished and the players went on to some even greater performances than they had given previously. That’s the best compliment I can give them.”

Elphick was ever present when leading Cherries to promotion, while Wilson hit 20 league goals and missed just one game and Arter was crowned player of the season.

Howe added: “It was a huge blow to lose these players and the worry I had was the effect it would have on the rest of the squad.

“It can eat away at the confidence and self-belief when you see players going down injured. It was a tough examination of our resources, our character and our ability to bounce back and it took a few games but we did and the lads responded superbly.

“At the time, it felt as if things were going against us and we had to shake away the excuses because the mind is a very powerful thing. If you allow an excuse to develop then the sub-conscious will take it but, thankfully, we didn’t.

“We were desperate to get the players fit as quickly as we could but also knew we had to focus on the players who were available.

“A lot of the players in the squad really stepped up and that was key. They didn’t shirk from the challenge, they embraced it, faced it and we ended up getting some great results in and around that spell.”