JORDAN Zemura admitted Brighton’s late winner was “painful to take”, adding: “We were in the game throughout the majority of it.”

Cherries were beaten 1-0 at Amex Stadium thanks to a late Kaoru Mitoma header, a ninth defeat in the past 11 Premier League matches under Gary O’Neil.

The loss leaves Cherries in the relegation zone, now sitting 19th, one point from safety with 17 games to play.

Speaking to afcbTV after the defeat, left-back Zemura said: “Very hard to take. It’s quite painful, because I think we were in the game throughout the majority of it.

“Defensively we were strong. Obviously they had their chances, but offensively we were strong as well, so we had our chances.

“So it’s a bit painful to take, in the 87th minute to concede, one I think we could’ve avoided, so I’m quite sad.”

Asked how Cherries can pick themselves up from this latest setback, Zemura added: “Like the gaffer says always, we deal with the result at the end of it and then we move on.

“We can’t dwell on it. We leave with zero points, but we’ve got a game again next week where we can get three.

“We just take it on the chin, move on and get ready for the next one.

“We’re a newly promoted team coming into the Premier League. It’s a bit different to when you’re in the Championship and you’re winning every game week in, week out.

“We’ve got to use it, fuel us for the next game and be ready to give our all against Newcastle.”

Cherries host Eddie Howe’s Magpies on Saturday (5.30pm).