HONEST Shwan Jalal carried the can and apologised for his part in the equaliser that set Saints on their way to a derby day triumph.

Star goalkeeper Jalal owned up to an uncharacteristic error after Cherries lost the south coast showdown 3-1 to fall behind in the League One promotion race.

Leading through Lauri Dalla Valle’s excellent early volley, the hosts conceded a leveller when Jason Pearce was dispossessed by Rickie Lambert, who crossed for Lee Barnard to head home.

Second-half strikes from Dean Hammond and Lambert sealed the verdict, but it was the soft nature of Barnard’s goal that left Jalal annoyed.

The stopper, one of the outstanding performers during Cherries’ rise in recent seasons, saw the Southampton frontman’s header slip through his grasp and admitted it should have been a routine save.

Jalal told the Echo: “We went 1-0 up and then, for their first goal, I have to look at myself and put up my hands for that. It was a basic error on my behalf and I can only apologise.

“I’m not going to lie, I was really angry with myself. It was a case of thinking about what I was going to do once I caught the ball, rather than just finishing off the save.

“The previous manager, Eddie Howe, Neil Moss (goalkeeping coach) and Lee Bradbury have told me it’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up again.

“I thought I gave a good account of myself after that and have got to take it on the chin, get back to the training ground and work on the mistakes.

“It was a routine catch for me but one of those where I was thinking I was going to get up and set up an attack, which is one of my strengths.

“But I should have finished off the save before thinking what I was going to do. I said sorry to the boys about it, they were great, and we just move on.”

Jalal felt the 3-1 scoreline was “very unjust” on Cherries, who had arguably enjoyed the better of proceedings until Hammond’s close-range goal put Saints ahead.

He added: “We have got to take it on the chin and move on. We have got 10 games now and we have just got to do the best we can.

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. We’ve got to get back up and look forward to Carlisle next Saturday.

“We have got to put up our hands and say it just didn’t come off for us. But I don’t think we should be disappointed with the way we played.

“We were disappointed with the way we played against Exeter because we didn’t give any fight, but on Saturday I thought we really went for it and, unfortunately, it didn’t pay off.”