Howe laments Bournemouth attacking failures

Eddie Howe bemoaned AFC Bournemouth falling short in the key moments as they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Everton on Saturday.

Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku struck after the interval at the Vitality Stadium to seal a 2-0 triumph for the visitors, although things could have panned out very differently had Charlie Daniels not seen a first-half penalty saved by Joel Robles.

Barkley’s opening goal went past Adam Federici via a deflection off Dan Gosling and Howe reckoned his side were lacking in luck as well as attacking conviction.

The Cherries boss told BBC Sport: “Everton had the extra quality and in key moments in the game we did not take our chances.

“It looked like we were going to score the rebound from the penalty save, but that is one of those things, players eager to get on the end of it. No blame on Charlie, though.

“Charlie has been outstanding and it’s the life of a penalty taker. It’s an unfortunate moment for us.

“We were well in the game at half-time. It was a real 50-50 but the deflected goal was key.”

Bournemouth will now turn full attention to their league run-in. The south-coast club are four points clear of the bottom three with 12 games to go.

Howe made seven changes to his previous Premier League XI, while Everton were unchanged, and the Bournemouth boss put that down to differing aims for the clubs.

He explained: “I have been on record many times saying the league is our priority.”