BOSS Sean O'Driscoll watched Port Vale put another dent into his side's League 1 play-off hopes and then said Cherries must take "collective responsibility" for their latest defeat, writes NEIL PERRETT.

First-half goals from Billy Paynter and Chris Birchall cancelled out Garreth O'Connor's 13th-minute opener.

The setback saw Cherries slip further off the promotion pace to tenth in the table and took their points haul to just seven in as many league games since Christmas.

O'Driscoll, pictured below, said: "If you can't defend and you can't score, then you get what you deserve.

"I didn't think we defended well and I didn't think we created enough chances to win the game, so we got what we deserved.

"It's down to everybody not being able to defend and everybody not being able to score. It's not an individual thing, it's a team thing.

"I'm not just blaming the players - we take responsibility as well, so, collectively, we weren't able to defend and we weren't able to score."

The visit to Vale Park ended a sequence of four consecutive long-haul away trips for Cherries, but when asked whether he could put the defeat down to the recent "tough couple of weeks", O'Driscoll did not use it as an excuse.

"What tough couple of weeks?" he replied. "They play football for a living. You can't get a much easier life than that."

O'Driscoll was also asked whether he felt the past couple of weeks had tested the squad's character and if he felt travelling had been a contributory factor.

"Travelling!" he replied. "We're on a luxury coach with microwaves and DVDs - we're not thumbing a lift on the M1. How that tests your character, I don't know.

"Playing in front of big crowds and having responsibility to get on the ball and do things, that tests character and we know they've got that.

"We're disappointed. We've got to be better. It wasn't good enough and we all take responsibility for that."

He added: "I thought it was a bit like the Stockport game. We started brightly, went a goal up and then petered out and gave away bad goals from our point of view."

Cherries defender Eddie Howe said: "We started off brightly again, like we did against Stockport, scored a very good goal and then, for some reason, we let them back in it.

"You are bound to get some pressure away from home but I thought they dominated for the rest of the first half and deserved their two goals.

"But I thought we dominated the second half and were different class. Judging by our second-half performance, I would say a draw would have been a fair result, but we seem to be playing in patches, playing very well when we're behind but maybe not so well when in front.

"Away games are always hard and we've had a run of away games, but I don't think that you can use that as an excuse.

"We've just got to try to bounce back. If we can pick up two or three wins, we will be right back up there."