EDDIE Howe insisted there should be no disappointment over Cherries’ 12th-place finish in the Premier League and said: “These are unprecedented times.”

Howe guided Cherries to their second-best finish in English football with victory at Burnley on Sunday, beaten only by the ninth-place effort of the previous campaign.

The Dorset outfit finished 16th in the 2015-16 Premier League season and have spent the rest of their history in the lower divisions.

Reflecting on the campaign, Howe told the Daily Echo: “I think it’s a huge achievement. I think the problem we created was that finishing ninth was the mark last season and people are maybe disappointed with 12th.

“But I think it’s more of a compliment to what we did last season than a criticism of what we did this season.

“You have to look at the teams who finished below us, the history of those clubs and the size of the clubs who have been relegated compared to ours.

“It was a huge effort from the players. Of course, we always want to do better and even when we finished ninth last season, I wanted to do better than that.

“That will never leave me so I know there are things we can work on and a lot of things we can analyse and do better but, ultimately, you have to say it’s a great job by the players.”

Cherries’ ability to mix it with the best in the top flight following a rapid rise through the Football League resulted in raised expectations among supporters.

Put to him that it would be easy to forget it had been Cherries’ second-best season, Howe said: “It’s easy to forget a lot of things.

"It’s easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day thing of what we’re doing in the Premier League.

“But this club has only been in the Premier League for three seasons in its history and these are unprecedented times.

“We have to, in my opinion, give the players all the encouragement and support we can because they have never let this club down.

“Hopefully, the supporters have enjoyed this incredible journey we have been on and, hopefully, it’s not over yet and we have a lot more success to enjoy.”

Joshua King and Callum Wilson finished as Cherries' joint top scorers in the Premier League having netted eight goals apiece, their nearest rivals being Ryan Fraser and Junior Stanislas, who both got five.

Winger Jordon Ibe was the leading assist-maker on six with Andrew Surman second on five, while Simon Francis topped the standings for most completed passes.

The captain made 1,606 in total, finishing ahead of fellow defenders Nathan Ake (1,589) and Charlie Daniels (1,568).

Francis was the only Cherries man to be sent off in the league this season having been dismissed for two bookable offences in the 4-0 win over Huddersfield Town in November.