Bournemouth took a two-goal lead into the break and despite a fightback in the second period which started immediately after the whistle, an equaliser proved elusive as the Hatters attempted yet another comeback.

“I thought we started brilliantly, Jones admitted. “I have accepted responsibility in there tactically and said if we started like we did second half then who knows, but for the first 20 minutes we were excellent. We moved the ball well, moved into good area, pressed well, had a glorious gilt-edged chance and you have to score them.

“If we score that, it is an entirely different game because we’re not chasing the game at two-nil down for a start. Then Elijah has another chance where he presses the keeper, then out of nothing they get two chances and take them. You can’t leave Solanke free from six yards out, he doesn’t miss those.

“Then Billing has drifted off the back of Gabe [Osho] who had a bit of a job to do on him today but that is the learning curve. We had far more chances, more territory but we just couldn’t get that goal. I can’t even say they defended better because we had the same amount of chances, if not better ones, trouble is we didn’t take ours.”

Finally on the backing that he and his players received at the Vitality Stadium this afternoon from a sold-out away end, the manager said: “We gave them a performance to get behind in the second half but I feel sorry for them because we let them down first half. Moments of knowledge and knowhow, we have let them down, that is the thing I have to sort out.”