Nicholls sees plenty of room for improvement

Goalkeeper Lee Nicholls kept the score civil at Bournemouth, but admitted he saw plenty of room for improvement in his own performance.
Lee Nicholls was a busy man against BournemouthLee Nicholls was a busy man against Bournemouth
Lee Nicholls was a busy man against Bournemouth

The keeper denied Jermaine Defoe, Jefferson Lerna and Jordan Ibe with excellent stops after a relatively quite start to the season. But he ultimately came out on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat to the Premier League side, ending their undefeated streak and knocking Dons out of the Carabao Cup.

Even though he was happy with some of the saves he made, Nicholls said he saw plenty of room for improvement in his own game.

"I did expect it," he said. "Coming here with the class and quality, I was a lot busier. I don't know how many saves I made but it's definitely the busiest I've been.

"I was happy with some of the saves, but me being me, I'm disappointed with the first and third goals. But that's football. It's a game I'll look back on and see a lot of things to improve. And that's what I want.

"I'd have liked to kept them all out, it wasn't meant to be."

Coming up against a tough Premier League side, Nicholls said there was plenty to learn from Bournemouth's professionalism.

He added: "You can learn a lot, a lot more than you think. You see the standard of players, and the little things. They are Premier League players playing against a League 2 side and they were working hard. Credit to them, they deserved to win."

Nicholls made a string of top saves at the Vitality StadiumNicholls made a string of top saves at the Vitality Stadium
Nicholls made a string of top saves at the Vitality Stadium

Manager Paul Tisdale praised his keeper, adding that it was good to see Nicholls busy after a quiet start to the campaign.

He added: "He looked highly competent. Yes, they scored three goals but he had a tidy game. He has not had a lot to do in the last few weeks so it was nice to see him in a game, perversely, that challenged him. It was good to see him making saves and in the battle."