CHERRIES boss Eddie Howe admitted Liverpool star Mohamed Salah’s controversial opener had had “a massive bearing” on today’s clash at Vitality Stadium.

Salah opened the scoring midway through the first half after drifting into an offside position, which the officials failed to pick up on.

The Egyptian went on to bag a superbly-taken hat-trick and Steve Cook’s own goal wrapped up a 4-0 triumph for the high-flying Reds.

Reflecting on the defeat, Howe said: “It was a difficult match and a tough scoreline.

“I thought the first goal had a massive bearing on the game because at that moment I thought we were okay.

“Our shape was good. Liverpool hadn’t opened us at that point and the goal shouldn’t have stood.

“We got ourselves back in the game. I felt it was well set up for us at half-time and then we started to make individual mistakes which really hurt us.

“The second goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of us and the game became more difficult.”

Howe admitted his team had found it tough to contain Salah, who now has 10 Premier League goals for the season.

“He looked very good,” said Howe. “His movement was very good and he looked razor sharp. We struggled to handle him.

“He’s one of the best in the world, in my opinion. He played more centrally today and did well from that position.

“When they went in front, we had to open up and that produced more chances on the counter-attack, which Liverpool are so strong at.

“That’s why the first couple of goals were huge moments in the match.”

At 2-0 down, Liverpool narrowly avoided conceding a penalty when Ryan Fraser’s cross was miscontrolled by Virgil van Dijk and the ball bounced off the turf and up on to his arm.

Put to him that a penalty could have been awarded, Howe said: “I wouldn’t have had a clear view of it, otherwise I would have remembered it.

“Maybe when looking back, you might be right.”

Striker Callum Wilson played no part in the fixture due to a hamstring problem. But Howe is hoping to have his top scorer available for the trip to Wolves a week today.

Howe said: “I don’t think it’s going to be long term. Callum’s got a grade one hamstring injury and we will try to get him fit for Wolves.

“We did miss him. He brings that unique mix of physicality and pace which I think would have troubled Liverpool’s back line more than we did today.

“That’s no criticism of the lads that played. We reshuffled. We felt it might give us more of the ball in dangerous areas but that didn’t materialise.”