CHERRIES boss Andoni Iraola hailed Marcus Tavernier for his defensive output after the winger came off the bench to help his side to victory against Luton Town.

With Cherries trailing 3-0 at the break thanks to Luton goals from Tahith Chong, Chiedozie Ogbene, and Ross Barkley, Tavernier was introduced in place of Luis Sinisterra.

Luton had been potent on the counter-attack, all three of their strikes punishing Cherries on the break.

With Tavernier on the field, Cherries turned the game around courtesy of strikes from Dominic Solanke, Illia Zabarnyi, and Antoine Semenyo.

Basque boss Iraola revealed that he had turned to Tavernier primarily to aid Cherries defensively.

In recent weeks Tavernier has been criticised by some sections of the Cherries support for failing to contribute offensive, with many questioning why Iraola persisted with starting the out-of-form winger.

However, the former Rayo Vallecano head coach pointed out that Tavernier’s work rate off the ball was a big miss when the winger was not on the pitch.

Iraola told the Daily Echo: “I think Tav, physically, has been very good in the last games.

“He has worked a lot.

“Sometimes we ask him to finish things, to score goals, to make assists, but he gives us a lot defensively.

“We put him to follow (Issa) Kabore up and down and then arrive.

“He was also a threat. Sometimes we demand and ask him to do a lot of things and it is not always easy to make the difference at the end.”

Cherries will have to endure a 17-day gap between fixtures, with their next match at home to Everton not until Saturday, March 30.

Their scheduled trip to Wolves this weekend was postponed after their opponents advanced into the quarter finals of the FA Cup.