EDDIE Howe says Mark Travers "fully deserved" his rousing reception from the Cherries fans after his penalty heroics against Forest Green.

The Irishman, making just his third appearance for Cherries, saved all three spot-kicks as Howe's men avoided a cup shock against their League Two opponents after drawing 0-0 at Vitality Stadium.

And the boss was pleased to see fans chanting Travers' name at full-time.

Howe said: "I love to see the supporters attached to the players and that support was great to see and fully deserved for Mark. He’s an outstanding goalkeeper.

"He’s got every attribute you need and today he stood up, a great experience for him – how is he going to handle the shoot-out? Is he going to be able to make the difference? And he did and the three saves were top drawer.

Asked how close Travers was to starting the first game of the Premier League season ahead of Aaron Ramsdale, Howe added: "Of course he was in my mind.

"I think the difficulty for him is he picked up the thumb injury for Ireland, missed a lot of pre-season so I think we only saw him for the last two weeks and I think that then made it difficult.

"I feel I hadn’t seen enough of him, he hadn’t trained enough for me to pick him ahead of Aaron, who I felt had a full pre-season, a very good pre-season so it’s great to have the competition, that’s what I want. "It’s a difficult selection that position."