BOSS Jason Tindall revealed he had to rein David Brooks in as he carefully manages his return from injury.

The Wales international has not played for Cherries since September 24 in the Carabao Cup loss at Manchester City.

A combination of illness and injury have kept Brooks out of the side since, although he is now training fully with the squad again.

The 23-year-old was not included for the trip to Watford, although Tindall insists he was keen to feature.

"David Brooks wanted to play, wanted to be involved, but he’s only just come back and done a couple of training sessions," Tindall told the Daily Echo.

"So I felt it was best that he had another good three or four days of training, training really hard so that when he does come back, he’s able to come back and make an impact."

Tindall also provided an update on Adam Smith, who did not travel to Vicarage Road having suffered a knee problem in Wednesday's draw at Cardiff.

"Adam Smith was 50-50," said the boss.

"His knee swelled up the day after the Cardiff game. Nothing too serious, but it was one of them that he was probably only 50 per cent fit and it wasn’t worth taking the risk, certainly with the games we’ve got coming up."

Cherries host Bristol City on Wednesday.