BOSS Eddie Howe saw Cherries crash to a dispiriting defeat at Southampton before conceding they had been “masters of our own downfall”.

Cherries were culpable for both goals as Dušan Tadić’s double earned Saints a crucial win in their battle to avoid the drop from the Premier League.

The Serbian’s first-half opener came after the hosts had mounted a swift break following a Cherries corner which saw three Saints players attack one defender.

And after Joshua King had restored parity on the stroke of half-time, Tadić seized on a mistake by Steve Cook to bag the winner nine minutes into the second half.

Although Cherries laid siege to the Saints goal in the closing stages, they were unable to fashion a second equaliser and were condemned to a third successive defeat.

Asked whether he felt Cherries had deserved a point, Howe said: “It’s difficult to say what we deserved but, overall, I was disappointed with the performance.

“For a footballing team, I thought we gave away the ball cheaply. When you do that, home or away, and create a lot of transitions, it’s difficult to get the control you want.

“I felt the game was there for us to exert our influence on more, have more control and more sustained spells of possession but we were wasteful with the ball and, ultimately, that was our biggest downfall.

“For whatever reason, we complicated the game. Individually, we made too many bad decisions which hurt us collectively. That was probably epitomised by the goals we conceded because I felt we were masters of our own downfall in that respect.

“We have looked vulnerable on the break from our attacking set-plays in recent weeks and it is certainly something we need to reflect on.

“We scored a big goal on half-time and started the second half pretty well. At that stage of the game, I felt the platform was there for us to go and win.

“But we made too many bad decisions individually which ultimately led to us losing control of a match that I felt we should have had.

“We conceded a bad second goal and then they focused on holding on. We bombarded their goal late on and their goalkeeper made a number of good saves but it wasn’t to be.”

Fielding a question about Saints’ winning goal, when Steve Cook had surrendered possession to Tadic, Howe said: “I never criticise individuals for a mistake like the one which happened for the goal because you need players to take responsibility. If we want to play a football-based game and pass the ball, there will be mistakes.

“It’s about recovering from those mistakes and trying to cover them as a team. That’s where you look for your team-mates to bail you out and maybe produce a piece of good defending. It didn’t happen in that moment.

“But I have to say Steve Cook has been outstanding for us in the past few weeks so that’s part and parcel of the game.”