EDDIE Howe has expressed his surprise at Cherries being stung by an FA charge and likened his team to "brothers fighting against the world".

Howe's club yesterday admitted they were guilty of "failing to ensure that their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion" following an incident at Sunderland last week.

A number of Cherries players reacted furiously to Black Cats forward Fabio Borini chopping down Lewis Cook, with the two sides subsequently becoming embroiled in a heated grappling match.

The manager nevertheless insisted he enjoyed seeing midfielder Cook's team-mates sticking up for their young colleague – albeit he warned them to remain on the right side of the law if a similar situation arises in the future.

Howe told the Daily Echo: "It is a very delicate balance. We talk about protecting each other, having each other’s backs – really having that team unity. We’re brothers and we’re fighting against the world.

"You want the feeling that it’s you versus everybody else. You try to create that, then when you see one of your own players wrongly fouled or hurt, your natural instinct is to protect them.

"I do want to see that – but it has to be in a controlled way. What we can’t have is instances like these hurting the club’s name every week.

"But I felt, in that instance, we didn’t overstep the mark. I thought it was just two passionate teams wanting to protect their own players."

Tapping into his own experience as a player, Howe explained he would have appreciated similar support from his team-mates had he been on the end of some rough treatment from an opponent.

He said: "You do like that as a player. It feeds and fosters the unity you need to be successful.

"If you were seeing someone you loved hurt in some way you felt was unjust, your natural reaction would be – not to fight, that’s not what I’m saying – but to protect, to console, to look after, to try to get them away from that confrontational situation.

"And I think that’s all our players were trying to do."