MANAGER Jason Tindall admitted Cherries “gave ourselves a mountain to climb” after succumbing to a 3-2 defeat against Preston North End.

The Dorset club missed the chance to go top of the Championship for 24 hours at least on Tuesday – having initially fell three goals behind against the Lilywhites at Vitality Stadium.

Tom Barkhuizen gave the visitors a 1-0 half-time lead before a stunning 40-yard lob from Scott Sinclair doubled the advantage for Alex Neill’s side.

Patrick Bauer’s 68th-minute goal seemed to have put the game beyond doubt for Preston, before goals from Cherries duo Junior Stanislas and Sam Surridge set up a grandstand finale.

But Tindall was left to ponder his side’s first home defeat of the season – and just their second in the division from 15 games.

He said: “We certainly gave ourselves a mountain to climb, being 3-0 down.

“I was disappointed by the manner of the goals we conceded. The first one has come from our own free-kick, we switched off dealing with the breakaway from that

“The second one came from a good chance from us at one end and a miscommunication from the guys at the back – to be fair to Sinclair it was a great finish from some distance.

“Then the third one came from switching off from their set play.

“When you give a team a one-goal advantage I think it’s tough but when you give a team a three-goal advantage, home or away, you give yourself a mountain to climb.

“It was just too big a mountain for us – we got ourselves back in the game with two goals.

“I felt if the game had gone on for another five minutes we’d have got something but it just wasn’t to be for us.”

Cherries recorded 15 shots against the Deepdale side but only four attempts managed to hit the target.

“First half we made the wrong decision a few times from good areas,” said Tindall.

“We shot when there was a better opportunity of a pass and when maybe we could shoot, we ended up passing. I felt in the first half that was something that didn’t help us.

“The opportunities they got they took, and the opportunities we got we didn’t necessarily make the most of. That’s the reason we lost the game.”

Cherries have the chance to bounce back when they make the trip to Barnsley on Friday.