ON THIS DAY – APRIL 2 2016

BOSS Eddie Howe saw Cherries condemned to a 4-0 defeat and admitted Manchester City had been “better than us in all areas”.

Cherries shipped three goals in a disastrous 12-minute spell in the first half as Fernando, Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero netted at Vitality Stadium.

Substitute Aleksandar Kolarov added a fourth in injury time as City – 5-1 winners over Cherries at the Etihad in October – completed the double over Howe’s team.

Howe said: “Any defeat is difficult to take and, when you concede like we did in the first half, it makes for a tough afternoon.

“When you go 3-0 down so early in the game, it is very difficult for the players to react but I thought we hung in there and didn’t let our heads drop and that was the positive from the day.

“It was a mixture for me. It was a good performance from them and we weren’t quite right. They showed their quality.”

Cherries: Boruc, Smith (Elphick, 68), Francis, Cook, Daniels, Gradel (Gosling, 84), Surman, O’Kane, Ritchie, King (Pugh, h-t), Grabban. Unused subs: Iturbe, Distin, Murray, Federici (g/k).