BOSS Kevin Bond felt Cherries "gave as good as they got", despite watching them "concede goals too easily" after their bubble burst at Carlisle on Easter Monday.

Cherries' recent revival took a jolt when they went down to a 3-1 defeat, with the Cumbrians profiting from some sloppy defending to net twice inside the opening 29 minutes.

Danny Graham grabbed a third-minute penalty after Stephen Purches had felled Johann Smith before Danny Livesey doubled the hosts' lead with an unopposed header.

And although Sam Vokes's second-half effort threaten to spark a fight-back, Cherries were caught when Neale McDermott killed them off late on.

Bond said: "I was disappointed to come away from the game without getting anything, but I thought we played well.

"We gave them a leg up early on when the winger's pace caught us out for the penalty in the first couple of minutes after we had defended atrociously from a set-piece.

"But I thought we always looked like we might cause them some problems and we did.

"David McGoldrick has been fantastic for us recently, but, by his own admission, he had three or four great chances.

"We caused them problems throughout and got ourselves back into it.

"I really thought we might get something from the game, but, as so often happens, we got caught on the counter-attack late on."

Bond added: "I'm bitterly disappointed because I want to pick up points from every game.

"But I've seen Carlisle recently and think they are the form team in the division at the moment. They gave us problems, but we gave them problems as well."

A double substitution paid dividends when half-time replacements Brett Pitman and Vokes combined to help Cherries halve the deficit, Vokes netting in the 61st minute after Pitman's shot had been parried by goalkeeper Kieren Westwood.

Bond said: "They both did ever so well when they came on.

"We clawed our way back into the game and had other opportunities, which, maybe on another day, we would have taken to draw level.

"But it was a classic case where we were pressing for an equaliser and they caught us.

"But we can't let the situation mislead us. We've been in a relegation battle from the moment I got here but the lads have done really well since the turn of the year.

"We've clawed ourselves a few points clear of trouble but you are going to have setbacks and people need to be realistic.

"It's frustrating but we can't sit here and wait for all the other teams to fall over.

"We've got to do it ourselves and the players have done that over the past few weeks. Now we need to gather ourselves and have a go against Swansea on Saturday.

Bond also paid tribute to Josh Walker who has returned to Middlesbrough following the end of his loan spell: "He's really enjoyed it and done very well for us.

"I think he wants to go back just to see where he is right now. But he has said he would like to return and that says something about how much he's contributed and how much he's enjoyed it."