MANAGER Eddie Howe saw as “a point gained” rather than two points dropped much-improved Cherries’ 0-0 draw with Tottenham.

The Dorset club had the ball in the net twice against Jose Mourinho’s men in the second half at Vitality Stadium through Joshua King and Callum Wilson – but both goals were ruled out by the officials.

A draw however did end a five-game losing run in the division, and was also Cherries’ first league clean sheet since December.

Howe, whose side are still three points adrift of 17th-placed Watford, said: “A lot of people coming to this game watching us previously would have thought we’ve not responded well to the fight ahead of us.

“I think today we gave everything we wanted to give in the previous games and showed our hat is still in the ring.

“We are still in there and we won’t quit until the end.”

He added: “I think it’s a point gained. With the run we’ve been on coming into this game, I think it’s a good point and I think we were disappointed not to win.

“When Callum hits that ball and it goes in you think we’ve won the match potentially, with little time left.

“There were other moments. Harry Wilson’s chance, a counter-attack that was given offside. There were moments for us where it could have gone very differently but it didn’t.

“I have to reflect on it with a good view because our players have given everything in that match. We have fought.

“It was a real physical, hard shift for everybody – and that’s the kind of thing we are going to need in our battle to stay up.”