"A few weeks ago we were playing champagne football, knocking the ball around lovely and with no doubts. But we'd lost our mojo a little bit and hopefully this will bring it back."
Tuesday 4 December 2018 23:32, UK
Eddie Howe described Bournemouth's 2-1 win against Huddersfield as an important one for his side after they ended a run of four straight Premier League defeats.
Bournemouth had lost to Newcastle, Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City in recent weeks but goals in the opening 22 minutes from Callum Wilson and Ryan Fraser got them back on track.
And Howe hopes the victory, which sees Bournemouth move up to sixth, can restore his side's confidence.
"You could see in our performance how important the result was for the team," Howe told Sky Sports.
"A few weeks ago we were playing champagne football, knocking the ball around lovely and with no doubts. But we'd lost our mojo a little bit and hopefully this will bring it back."
Bournemouth were made to battle for the three points though as the Terriers came back strongly and made a game of it through Terence Kongolo's header shortly before half-time.
David Wagner's men pushed for a leveller in the second half but lacked a cutting edge, despite having 21 shots on goal.
"Huddersfield were very good tonight," Howe said. "It was nice to go 2-0 up but they had nothing to lose and they played very well. It was a difficult night for us from that point.
"I thought the second half was a lot better. We defended very well and these games are never easy. We said that before the game. Huddersfield do a lot of things well in a football match and credit to them.
"You could say we were slightly fortunate but we deserved that from our recent weeks."
Asmir Begovic played a huge part in Bournemouth's win, making a trio of impressive saves to keep out Alex Pritchard's close-range effort, Laurent Depoitre's header and Aaron Mooy's free-kick.
He also saved a low effort from Mooy in the second half and Howe was full of praise for his goalkeeper.
"Asmir (Begovic) was excellent tonight," he said. "He made a number of good saves.
"We needed a big performance and he has gone a long way to getting us the three points."
