Howe's selection gamble backfires
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe admitted after his EPL side's 3-0 loss to Millwall that he might have made a mistake in changing his entire first 11.
At The Den yesterday morning (Singapore time), goals from Steve Morison, Shaun Cummings and Shane Ferguson secured the League One side's place in the FA Cup fourth round.
Asked if he regretted making 11 changes to his team, Howe said: "In hindsight, yes, but though I haven't been forced, my hands are tied a little bit.
"We are so stretched, the Premier League is very demanding, we feel we need our best players available for selection.
"Marc Wilson has pulled his hamstring, so we're a body down and, if that had been a first-team player, that would have been really catastrophic.
"We tried to protect the players we had fit.
"Millwall deserved it. It was disappointing, because I was excited to see the team play.
"We had a good balance between a lot of experience and a bit of youth, but this is a tough place to play."
Meanwhile, Millwall manager Neil Harris insisted his team could have beaten Bournemouth by a greater margin.
However, he revealed that he would rather swop their FA Cup upset for a league victory over rivals Charlton this Saturday.
"I'd like to play at home in the next round," said the 39-year-old Harris, who has overseen four wins and a draw from an unchanged 11.
"(But) I would swop this victory for a win at Charlton, that's how big (next week's game) is.
"We defended really well as a team and, at the right times, we were clinical - 3-0 doesn't flatter us. We could've scored more." - PA SPORT
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