AFC Bournemouth 2 United 1

Shortly after the final whistle had gone in United's 2-1 defeat at Bournemouth Gulls' boss Paul Buckle was doing his very best to stay calm when he spoke to the assembled press. As expected, much of the questioning was centred on the officials: 'We are bitterly disappointed that we couldn't take all three points. I thought we were well worth the win today. To come here against a team at the top of the league and take the game to them like we did, in the manner that we did shows how far we have come. We just didn't get our rewards today. Once we have got over the disappointment of the defeat there will be so many positives to take from this game. I'm not sure if Bournemouth will have a tougher game at home this season. It's actually a compliment when things are shouted at our dressing room as the players come in; it isn't our style to do that kind of thing and I'll say no more on that matter.

'In two and a half years as a manager I have done my best not to criticise referees but I thought it was a poor challenge on Tyrone Thompson for their first goal but by then I thought the referee had lost a little bit of control. I said to the players at half-time it is a big crowd, Bournemouth were attacking their home end and we knew that Steve Fletcher was going to come on and I asked the players to remain calm. In my opinion the referee lost control and it wasn't a penalty at the end, Steve Fletcher came up to me at the end and said that we had been robbed and it wasn't a penalty. I don't blame their player for going down at all, I tried to shake Pitman's hand at the end, I said well done and I wasn't being sarcastic but I'm not sure how it was taken.

'It was a great game of football, it must have been good to watch, it was end-to-end stuff and if we continue to play like that I'm sure we will climb the league. The whole team were excellent today, I think we scared the life out of Bournemouth at times, we had a chance to score just before the penalty but I can't complain with the performance. It's frustrating to lose to a decision like that, you have to be a hundred per cent sure that it is a penalty kick in my opinion and I'm not sure that was the case today. It is disappointing but that is what happens in football sometimes.

'There was a great atmosphere in the ground; both sets of supporters were superb. We have earned the right to play at this level of football and we want to play in atmosphere's like that, our supporters were behind us from the first kick and I think even in defeat we gave them a performance to enjoy.'

We can confirm that the bookings picked up by Chris Robertson & Nicky Wroe in yesterday's match mean that both players will be suspended for the F.A. Cup tie with Brighton this weekend.