Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe heartbroken by Chelsea defeat
Wednesday 20 December 2017 23:16, UK
Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe admits their Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat at Chelsea was heartbreaking.
Dan Gosling's 90th-minute strike at Stamford Bridge, cancelling out Willian's effort, appeared to be sending the game to extra-time, but substitute Alvaro Morata struck a minute later for Chelsea to seal a 2-1 win.
"It feels heartbreaking to be honest," said Howe. "I thought the players gave everything to get back into the game tonight. We didn't get a great start and they scored a good goal from their perspective, but second half we penned them in with waves of attacks and scored a great goal.
"I was hoping it would go into extra-time, but obviously it didn't happen and the last part of the game was bitterly disappointing."
Bournemouth also lost striker Jermain Defoe early on to injury after he was on the end of a bad challenge from young Chelsea defender Ethan Ampadu, but Howe insists that a booking was the correct call from referee Lee Mason.
"Personally I don't think it was a red card," said the Cherries boss. "My gut feeling was a yellow but it meant we lost Jermain and that was a huge blow to us.
"It looks like he's potentially got some damage to his ankle ligaments. It was a nasty tackle and it wasn't right and he had to come off. Then Harry Arter felt his calf in the second half and he had to come off, so we're really stretched."
It was another tough result for Bournemouth in a week that has also seen them lose to Manchester United and Liverpool, but Howe insists there are plenty of positives to take from their performance.
"It's been a bizarre week for us," he said. "We went to Manchester United and it was very similar to tonight where I thought we were excellent and deserved more.
"Liverpool was the total opposite as we didn't really perform on that day. But I can't credit the players enough for their performance here today, we leave positive but we've got Manchester City next so it doesn't get any easier."
