JASON Tindall still firmly has his sights set on promotion this season and reminded onlookers: “There’s still 63 points to play for.”

The Cherries boss, embarking on his first season of Football League management, has seen his troops pick up 42 points from their opening 25 Championship games.

A solitary point from the past three outings has checked the Dorset club’s progress – but Tindall has vowed to bounce back and ensure Cherries learn from the experience.

“Smooth seas don’t make great sailors,” said the boss, in quotes reported by the Mirror.

“There are always ups and downs in any successful team, it’s not always plain sailing.

“You’re going to have these weeks, these moments, when things don’t quite go as you would have liked.

“You just have to put them behind you, bounce back and learn from the experience.”

Losses against Luton and Derby, along with a point against Millwall has put the Dorset club four points off the automatic promotion spots.

They have also played a game more than second-placed Swansea City.

Tindall added: “Along the way you’re going to hit bumps in the road and you have to respond to them.

“It’s easy to be disappointed.

“But you have to take a step back and think about everything that has happened.

“It’s not only the club being relegated from the Premier League but a lot of staff losing their jobs, a lot of players leaving the football club for different reasons — Aaron Ramsdale, Nathan Ake, Callum Wilson, Ryan Fraser and other experienced players who’d been here so long — and Eddie (Howe) no longer being the manager.

“It was a big change from where the club was, and not just in personnel but in mood, in how people were feeling.

“There were a lot of question marks over me being appointed manager as well and rightly so.

“I had to answer the questions people had and try to change the mood from a team that was used to losing a lot of games and a team that had got relegated.

“There was a short window for people to be able to take all that in because we were back at work two weeks after the Premier League season ended.

“So when I weigh up everything that has happened, I have to be pleased with what we have done.”

Asked what would represent success this season, Tindall said: “Promotion.

“You want to win the league, ultimately. You enter any competition to win and we can still do that.

“There are still 63 points to play for.

“But as we’ve seen, Fulham and Aston Villa are two teams who have done well after going through the play-off route, West Ham as well.

“So however you achieve promotion, it is still an achievement and that’s what we want to do this year.”

Cherries are next in action when they host Crawley in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Tuesday.