MANAGER Eddie Howe praised Cherries’ performance but admitted his men had paid the ultimate price for wasteful finishing in their League Cup defeat at Watford.

Cherries were knocked out of the competition following a 2-0 loss at the hands of their Championship rivals in last night’s second round tie at Vicarage Road.

Brett Pitman rattled the woodwork, Andrew Surman and Shaun MacDonald failed to convert fine opportunities and Hornets keeper Jonathan Bond also produced a series of impressive saves.

But Gianfranco Zola’s side progressed thanks to a bizarre Elliott Ward own goal and a tremendous finish from Cristian Battocchio.

Cherries boss Howe said: “If you look at the chances created, we gave them the first goal and it was an excellent finish for their second.

“We hit the woodwork, had some great chances, their keeper made a couple of great saves and we wasted opportunities when we should have done better.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the missing touch that we needed but, overall, it was a much better performance.

“At 1-0, we bombarded their goal and they broke away to score the second with a real moment of class. Ultimately, that class decided the game.”

Despite the defeat, Howe was encouraged with the response of his players following the 5-1 hammering at Huddersfield on Saturday.

He added: “Individually, it was a good response to Saturday. There were some really strong performances from people who needed to put in performances and it was pleasing to see them come through character-wise, because it was a test.

“We created chances and kept the ball very well at a tough ground. Both sides made changes but it was still a very competitive game and we can’t be too disappointed.”