CHERRIES boss Jason Tindall said taking charge of his first game for the club was "a very proud moment for me".

Tindall led the side out for the first time on Sunday, three weeks after taking the manager's role from Eddie Howe, as Cherries fell to a 2-1 pre-season friendly defeat at Benfica.

Arnaut Danjuma scored the first goal of Tindall's reign in Lisbon, either side of strikes from Adel Taarabt and Everton.

Asked how it felt standing in the dugout for the first time as Cherries manager, Tindall told afcbTV: "You don't really think of it too much but it's a great honour to manage such a great club, a club that's very close to my heart.

"I've been here for a long time as assistant manager, but to be there leading the team was a great honour and a very proud moment for me."

Discussing the first outing of pre-season, Tindall told afcbTV: "I'm pleased with the performance against a very good Champions League side. In the first half they were at full strength, which was a great test for us, so overall very pleased in terms of I thought the attitude and the work-rate was excellent.

"Is there areas to improve? Of course there is. I felt we could've been better on the ball, a few too many giveaways but it's our first game and to come to a place like this and play such a good side, there's a lot of positives to come from it."

All three eye-catching goals came inside the first 21 minutes at Estadio da Luz.

"Arnie was causing them a lot of problems on the counter-attack," said Tindall.

"As we know he's so good going that way (attacking) and got a great goal. But we've conceded two goals. I am a little bit disappointed, felt we should've maybe defended around the box a little bit better but it's the first game.

"We've still got another couple of weeks to train and to make sure we're ready for Blackburn (on September 12)."

Having started with a 4-4-2 formation, Tindall switched to a back three on the hour mark.

And he says that versatility will be important for the challenges ahead.

"I think you have to be (flexible)," said the boss.

"We felt we needed to change a little bit to try and give us a bit more control on the ball. I felt it helped us in our build-up phase, gave us a little bit more control and enabled us to press Benfica a little bit higher up the pitch and we had a few good regains.

"We've always been flexible and it's certainly something we're going to need to be able to do in the coming season."