CHERRIES boss Andoni Iraola said he “could not ask much more” from his players after a spirited 1-0 defeat at home to Manchester City.

Phil Foden’s 24th minute strike proved the difference between the two sides under the lights at Vitality Stadium.

Iraola’s charges pushed the current champions all the way, with many second half opportunities gone begging.

Asked for his thoughts on the match, Iraola told the Daily Echo: “We cannot ask much more from the players, effort wise.

“I think they believed in every moment in what we were doing.

“I think we defended quite well.

“We've obviously conceded some chances, but I think one goal is really acceptable.

“The main reason we didn't get the result is because we didn't finish the chances we had.

“I think we had, especially second half, enough chances to score.

“But you have to do a lot of very good things against City and then scoring chances and be good inside the box.

“And we weren't good enough.”

Cherries deployed an aggressive man-to-man marking gameplan, exemplified by Illia Zabarnyi stepping into midfield to stifle the opposition.

“I think it was very well executed,” responded Iraola when asked if he felt the gameplan had been carried out properly by his side.

“Obviously there are some things that when you go man-to-man, you are going to lose duels and you will get in trouble.

“You have to concede some chances and accept that.”

Overall, Iraola felt that the game was quite even, the only difference Cherries’ lack of clinical finishing.

He explained: “We levelled the game.

“I think they were slightly better, I would say, in the first half, we were slightly better in the second half.

“The game was quite level and for us to make a game quite level shot-wise, chances-wise against City, it's a huge game for us.

“We gave us the chances, I think we played very well.

“We match all the things we have to do well to get a result, except scoring the goals. At the end, this is the most important thing.”