SCOTT Parker insisted Cherries’ train had to “keep rolling” despite becoming derailed in their 2-1 defeat at Preston on Saturday.

The Dorset club’s journey to their desired destination of the Premier League suffered an unwanted bump, after Jamal Lowe’s opener was wiped out by goals from Cameron Archer and Emil Riis.

But with three home games on the spin coming up against Peterborough, Derby and Reading, starting with the Posh on Tuesday, Parker insisted it was time for his group to “see what we are made of”.

Asked how he would settle his players after their dramatic defeat at Deepdale – during which the head coach and Adam Smith were sent off - Parker replied: “We will be fine. That’s my job and I have been involved in this a long, long time.

“We are going to learn from this. We are going to go over it.

“We are going to explain exactly why we’ve lost the game because in my head I have some clear reasoning why that is and it’s pretty straight forward.

“But this is it. Three home games now. Let’s go and see what we are made of. We have to keep going.

“This train has to keep rolling and we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We need to keep pushing and we will do that.”