AFC Bournemouth head coach Marco Rose was pleased with the way his side started both halves, scoring early in each as they defeated the Blues 2-1 at Portman Road to climb to seventh in the Premier League.

The Cherries forced errors in the fifth minute of the first half and the opening 27 seconds after the restart following half-time to go 2-0 ahead through Evanilson and a Leif Davis own goal.

Town got themselves back in the game via a Jack Clarke penalty but the Dorset side were able to see out their fourth Premier League win on the bounce and their eighth victory in a row in all competitions.

Rose, who took charge at Dean Court in the summer, was asked if he was pleased with the manner in which his side dug in as the Blues looked to put on the pressure after Clarke’s spot-kick.

“I’m pleased with the first 70 minutes as well, because we went 2-0 up and I didn’t feel that we’d struggle or that we could get in problems,” he said. “But it’s the Premier League and one goal changed the momentum of the game.

“And that’s why I’m much more pleased about the last 20 minutes. We suffered, but we did it together and well.”

Rose was pleased with the way his side began each half positively and showed few signs of fatigue after their midweek trip to Slavia Prague, who the beat 3-1 in the Europa League.

“Last week [after the 2-0 home victory over Leeds] I said we start slow and this week I said we start quite quick and we score an early goal. I’m a magician!” he joked.

“No, we know that we have to be ready in this league. We played Chelsea four weeks ago and we were 2-0 down after three minutes.

“That’s why we learned and it’s always good to score an early goal, so we just want to be ready and especially if you come back on Thursday night from a European game, you travel again yesterday, then you know that you maybe lose some per cent in the plane or on the bus or wherever, in the hotel.

“But we were sharp, we were good and that’s what I really appreciate because I said before this week that it’s going to be really demanding for a team that’s not used to have this kind of situation.”

He added: “We had some good turnovers, we were good, we won balls. We knew that it was going to be difficult today to create chances just in possession because Ipswich is a very diligent team, they work quite hard to defend their own goal.

“But we knew that we were going to get chances in transition situations and I think we had two, three, four more really, really good situations, and that’s why I’m happy with how the lads did.”

Rose had no complaints regarding the penalty decision, Lewis Cook having tripped Abdoul Ouattara.

“I don’t think he couldn’t see the opponent,” the German said. “But he touched him and then it’s a penalty. Nobody really complained, so I think it’s a penalty.”

Photo: TWTD