EDDIE Howe suffered his heaviest defeat as a manager and then said he hoped Cherries’ 6-1 reverse at Watford would provide a reality check.

Troy Deeney’s hat-trick, coupled with Gabriele Angella’s double and a Lewis McGugan strike, saw Cherries ship six in the league for the first time since 2001.

Howe’s men were victims of a second-half goal blitz after Lewis Grabban’s leveller had seen them reach the interval on level terms and in the ascendancy.

And although Cherries could lay claim to having had almost twice as much possession as the Hornets over the 90 minutes, the scoreline told its own story.

Howe said: “I felt it was a really good, open game in the first half. We were excellent and I was really pleased with the players and how we had responded to conceding an early goal.

“We scored an excellent goal and felt we could go on to win the game.

“The manner of their second goal was hugely disappointing because it was similar to the first and came from a set-play which we didn’t deal with well enough. If we were guilty of anything, it was still chasing the game at 3-1.

“We felt we could still try to get back into it but they were ruthless in exposing that. We were a little naive towards the end when we kept giving the ball back to them and you can’t do that against a very good team.

“It isn’t easy to come here and take the game to them like we did and to create the chances we did in the first half. In order to perform, you always need to do the basics right and we were brave on the ball.

“I felt we lost our way in the second half and, for whatever reason, we went too direct, too long and kept turning over possession.”

Howe, responding to a question suggesting the timing of the defeat could benefit Cherries as they look to adjust to life in the Championship, said: “In some respects, you could be right. Early in the season, I don’t think it does you any harm and I highlighted that afterwards.

“Potentially, it could be a good thing, not just for the players but also for our supporters, who I thought were magnificent.

“It just keeps everybody’s expectations in check and lets everybody know that it is a big step and that we are going to have to do everything we can to get as many points as we can.

“I always knew it was going to be a huge step for our squad and for everyone at the club because, if you look at our history, we have hardly played at this level and history is always a good gauge.

“We are going to play some big sides and some good teams and are going to need to try to generate points.

“Every point is going to be a point earned.

“Although there were many positive to come out of the game, the overall negative was that we shipped too many goals and that is something we are going to need to address pretty quickly.”