STEVE Cook condemned as “poor” Troy Deeney’s assertion that Dan Gosling had “tried to do” Watford’s Tom Cleverley.

Cherries midfielder Gosling received a yellow card for a robust second-half challenge which saw him win the ball but then wipe out Cleverley.

Deeney made a series of forthright comments in post-match interviews after Wednesday’s 3-3 draw at Vitality Stadium, including that referee David Coote had “bottled” a number of decisions.

But Cherries centre-half Cook felt the Watford captain had got it wrong over Gosling, who had been making his first start since the end of November having returned from a knee injury.

And Cook insisted Abdoulaye Doucoure’s ugly first-half lunge on Ryan Fraser – which also resulted in a caution – had been a significantly worse offence.

He said: “That’s strange coming from Troy because as a physical striker, I don’t think anyone tries to do anyone.

“If we’re doing people, Doucoure’s done Goso.

“That’s a poor comment from him. It’s strange because he’s a good guy. He was desperate for him to be sent off, actually, but that would have been an awful decision.

“Doucoure’s tackle was twice as bad as Goso’s.

“I think (Doucoure) was probably not 100 per cent in control. I haven’t seen it back slowly but on another day he could have seen red.”

Cook, ever present in the Premier League this season, admitted he had been irritated that Cherries had allowed Deeney a couple of early goals in a breakneck encounter.

“We gifted him two goals,” said Cook. “He didn’t have to work hard for them so that’s really annoying.

“That’s the way it’s been going for our defenders – everything seems to land for the opposition and he managed to stick two away.

“But it’s always a good battle with him. What you see is what you get.”

After Deeney’s goals had seemingly put the Hornets in control, efforts from Nathan Ake and Callum Wilson allowed Cherries to level matters.

And although Ken Sema restored the visitors’ lead, Ryan Fraser fired home to equalise.

“The never-say-die attitude is something we have spoken about a lot recently and it really shone through,” said Cook.

“On the face of it, it’s a really good point because we came back after being 2-0 down to a really good team.

“We went behind again but to respond again shows we do have the capability to do it.

“But when you score three goals at home, you should be winning.”

Discussing further the team’s refusal to give up, Cook said: “That’s been instilled in us for a long time but we haven’t shown that recently.

“The manager has been on at us in the past few days about it. And you need that if you are going to do well.

“You are always going to have setbacks in this league – it’s natural. Everyone must have been panicking on the outside but we always believe we can come back and nick something.”