MANAGER Eddie Howe praised Cherries’ battling qualities after watching his men twice fight back to earn a 3-3 draw at Notts County tonight.

Trailing to goals from Jeff Hughes and Yoann Arquin at the interval, Cherries dug deep to emulate the sort of stirring response that had proved enough to defeat Tranmere on Saturday.

Josh McQuoid reduced the deficit before Harry Arter equalised from the penalty spot.

Jamal Campbell-Ryce looked to have won it for County when he netted with a late spot kick for the hosts.

But in a thrilling finale, Steve Fletcher teed up fellow substitute Matt Tubbs for a last-gasp leveller.

Asked about his team’s fighting spirit, Howe said: “I think that gives us a really good opportunity, going forward, to build something again.

“You can’t coach character and attitude. The players here have got something otherwise we wouldn’t have done that in the previous two games.

“I’d like to get the first goal – don’t get me wrong. I’d like to get that all-important first goal because it does make the game a lot easier.”

Cherries had opportunities to take a first-half lead before County capitalised on defensive errors to move ahead.

Howe said: “The shape was good and I felt we had a game-plan and it worked pretty well but then we found ourselves 2-0 down.

“We had to change something otherwise the result could have continued along that same path.

“We decided to change it in the second half but the main thing was being positive with our passing and trying to play forwards where we could, and to get our wide players in the game because they were a real threat when they got the ball early.”

Howe was also full of praise for veteran frontman Fletcher after he had played a crucial role in Tubbs’s equaliser. Used sparingly so far this season, the Cherries legend provided a vital flick-on before Tubbs fired home from a tight angle.

Discussing Fletcher, Howe added: “Full credit to him. I hadn’t seen him play for a long time in a game situation. I had seen him in training and he is still just as bad a trainer as he always was!

“So you do fear that when he comes on, is he still going to be able to make an impact? But he did that today.”

Howe confirmed Lewis Grabban missed out after taking a knock to his foot on Saturday, while Lorenzo Davids and Frank Demouge are both building their fitness levels. Jon Meades was ill.