FRONTMAN Sam Surridge insisted his full focus was on delivering in games for Cherries, rather than looking at speculation over the club’s new manager.

Cherries are currently searching for a new permanent boss as a replacement for Jason Tindall, who was dismissed by the club’s board last week.

The Daily Echo understands the interview process has now begun to place a new man at the helm.

The likes of Patrick Vieira and David Wagner have reportedly been shortlisted for the position.

Surridge scored the opener as Cherries beat Burnley 2-0 in the FA Cup on Tuesday, with caretaker manager Jonathan Woodgate in charge.

And the club’s academy graduate insisted he was focused on impressing the current man in position, rather than wondering who would be next.

Asked whether he read any of the speculation surrounding a new manager coming in, the England under-21 international told the Daily Echo: “I personally don’t.

“You hear a couple of things from the lads but no-one is taking a lot of notice. It’s more outside of football.

“When you are in the changing room, we are just getting on with our day-to-day stuff and then listening to whoever is in charge.

“That’s what you want to do. You can’t let your mind go elsewhere, we are all just taking to Woody at the moment. He’s been great.”

Woodgate has piloted the club to victories over Birmingham and the Clarets since Tindall’s departure and is set to remain at the helm for Saturday’s Championship showdown at Nottingham Forest (12.30pm).

And although Surridge admits the situation is “different” to what he is used to, he is enjoying working under the former England defender.

“It’s been a bit different, obviously, because I have been used to Jase being there,” he added.

“It was a hard one for everyone but we have all reacted. Woody has come in and been great with everyone.

“We are taking every game as it comes and we are working hard for each other – winning breeds confidence, so we are going into Saturday confident we can get the win.

“We know performances haven’t been to the standard that we need. The past two have been good.

“As players we need to take ownership and we did that (at Burnley) with a clean sheet and two goals.”

Quizzed on what Woodgate was like to work under, Surridge replied: “He’s been great. It’s someone different who has come to the club and hasn’t got any attachments to it.

“He’s come in and been great with everyone. He is very experienced, it’s good to learn things off him and the things that he says.

“For me personally it’s another learning curve. It’s two (wins) from two now and we can’t ask much more of him.

“He’s come in and all the lads have taken to him.”

Surridge’s only other experience of working under a caretaker boss came when he was on loan at League Two Oldham, during the 2018-19 campaign.

The striker scored under temporary boss Pete Wild in the FA Cup against Fulham, after he took over from sacked Frankie Bunn.

Speaking about playing under a caretaker manager, Surridge said: “It’s a weird one really because you never know how long they are going to be there, but you don’t care about that. You just see that he’s your manager and you listen to him. You listen to the instructions he is giving.

“That’s what all the players are doing and we can’t ask for much more with two wins in two.

“Woody is the manager at the moment, so everyone is trying to impress him. I don’t think we can look too far outside of it.

“You can’t speculate and you never know but we are taking instructions from Woody at the moment.”