SCOTT Parker admitted Cherries have had to go "back to basics" in their bid to arrest their recent slump in form.

Following a scintillating start to the season, Parker's charges were flying high at the top of the Championship, unbeaten in their first 15 league matches, a new club-record beginning to a campaign.

But since then, Cherries have collected just six points from the subsequent seven fixtures, including defeats against Preston, Derby and Blackburn, losing their top spot to Fulham.

Parker will look to get his side back on track when they make the long trip to face Middlesbrough tomorrow lunchtime (12.30pm).

Asked how he approaches managing a side during a difficult run of results and what he does to try and get them back on track, Cherries boss Parker told the Daily Echo: "A couple of things really. We need to get everyone fit, we need to get our players back on the grass.

"We need to get a full fit squad back in play, of course we do.

"Then you go back to basics a little bit, you turn the screw a little bit and let’s get back to basics.

"We’ve done that. I think the players have reacted in a very good way and they have over the course of the last four or five games.

"Is it where we would have wanted to have been? Of course not.

"But you look throughout the league, there are other teams in and around the top who are in probably a bit of a similar situation – teams that have not won in four or five and this is the dynamics of this division really.

"First and foremost, hopefully we get some players fit and some players back in Jefferson Lerma off of suspension and we’ll be fine."

Looking ahead to the clash with Chris Wilder's Boro, Parker added: "Every game we go into we want to win. Whether you’ve lost seven on the bounce, whether you’ve won eight on the bounce, it’s a mindset, a mentality around here which I want that we want to go into every game and win.

"We’re halfway through a long season. We’re not with six games or 10 games to go, there’s still a lot of football to be played.

"We want to get back onto that winning road, of course we do.

"That’s the main focus as always – us and the processes in place and us keep nailing what we need to nail to become even a better team. If we do that, I always know that you can win games, certainly in this division."