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Championship: Eddie Howe says Bournemouth deserved more after Watford draw

AFC Bournemouth's Eddie Howe salutes fans after their 1-1 draw during the Sky Bet Championship match at Carrow Road, Norwich.
Image: Eddie Howe: Disappointed at having to settle for a draw at Watford

Eddie Howe felt that Bournemouth were unlucky to draw with Watford after being pegged back to 1-1 at Vicarage Road.

Ian Harte missed an early penalty but Bournemouth continued to carve out the better chances and took the lead through Harry Arter’s long-range strike midway through the second half.

However, they were denied victory when Craig Cathcart steered home an exquisite volley seven minutes from time.

On-loan goalkeeper Artur Boruc had previously had a quiet game and Howe suggested after the final whistle that Bournemouth had not got what they deserved.

He told Sky Sports: “I think so. If you look at the game as a whole I think we had the best chances. Obviously there was the penalty early in the game.

“We got the lead, deservedly so, and it has taken a wonder strike for us to concede.

“I can’t remember Artur having to do too much. We came under a little bit more pressure once we had taken the lead but I didn’t see it coming.

“I thought we defended very well, restricted the spaces and for, me, deserved to win.”

Harte’s penalty miss came after a foul on Callum Wilson by Gabriel Tamas, who was not shown a yellow or red card for the incident.

Howe felt the defender could have been sent off, saying: “My immediate reaction was that there was a possibility (of a red card). For him not to be booked, I don’t understand.

“I would need to see it again but there was a definite possibility of a red card and obviously we were disappointed not to score the penalty.

“But it didn’t affect us. I thought we grew into the game and I was very pleased with the majority of our play today.”

The result left Bournemouth in the bottom half of the table with nine points from eight games, even though Howe has been pleased with most of their performances.

He added: “It is a concern because you want more points, but at least we are playing well and, nine times out of ten, if we had played that game again, we would win the game and leave happy.”

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