FURIOUS Cherries boss Kevin Bond pulled no punches after seeing his side suffer an almighty New Year hangover.
Bond slammed his players for conceding a "diabolical" late winner during their agonising 3-2 defeat by south coast rivals Brighton yesterday.
And he labelled Cherries' defending as "nothing short of disgraceful" after Alex Revell's hat-trick had sent them packing at Withdean.
Bond had seen Cherries twice come from behind to level before Revell's dramatic stoppage-time header denied them a potentially-priceless share of the points.
"It was all of our own making and we brought about our own downfall," said Bond. "We fought hard to get back into the game and deserved to get back into it but gave away the most diabolical of goals in the last seconds.
"We needlessly gave the ball away after having had it from a throw in their half and for the umpteenth time, we didn't defend a set-piece. It was nothing short of disgraceful.
"Ultimately, I will take responsibility for anything that happens on the pitch and I fully accept that.
But, and for whatever reason, the players decided that they wouldn't concentrate until the end and didn't do their jobs."
Bond, whose side visit Cheltenham for a League One relegation six-pointer a week on Saturday, added: "They will have to dwell on that for 10 days now, which is an awful situation to be in. We'd had a decent Christmas up until now and I would have given them a bit of time off, but I'm not going to now.
"I've got to live with this and I'm going to dwell on it like you can't believe and I want them to dwell on it because I don't want it to happen again. I don't know what I can do to try to get them to concentrate and take responsibility so I'll let them think about it every day between now and Saturday week."
Revell opened the scoring for the Seagulls after 15 minutes before Jean Francois Christophe levelled for Cherries midway through the first half. Brett Pitman came off the bench to cancel out Revell's second with 11 minutes remaining before the Brighton striker had the final say four minutes into added time.
Bond added: "I thought we thoroughly deserved at least a point from the game but we gave them bad goals. We had opportunities and they had to change the way they played in the first half because we were causing them problems. We got back on level terms twice but the last goal is going to stick with me for an awfully long time."
Meanwhile, Bond said it was "too early to say" whether James Henry, Jem Karacan, Alex Pearce or Scott Golbourne may return to Dean Court following their end of their respective loan spells from Reading.
And while he confirmed he would be hoping to keep Portsmouth midfielder Christophe and Max Gradel, an injury to the Leicester winger could put a possible extension in doubt.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article