Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe felt his side were let down by a slow start and some poor finishing as their Championship lead was cut to a single point last night.

The south-coast club slipped to a 1-0 loss at Leeds – only their second defeat in 17 Championship matches and their first on the road in the league since the end of September.

“The big disappointment for us was the way we started and the way we gave Leeds the chance to get their crowd behind them early in the game," Howe said.

“Our game-plan was to quieten the crowd and try and make a fast start, but Leeds put us under pressure and they played well in the first half.

“They scored a good goal and unfortunately for us it just seemed to be one of those nights when the ball wouldn't go in for us.”

Luke Murphy crashed home a superb first-half goal but Leeds were left hanging on at the end as Bournemouth spurned a string of chances.

The visitors had a goal controversially ruled out for offside, hit the post through Marc Pugh in the 81st minute and also missed a late penalty – Yann Kermorgant crashing his 87th-minute penalty against the bar – after home defender Giuseppe Bellusci had been sent off for his challenge on Callum Wilson.

Howe felt Brett Pitman's disallowed effort in the first half was questionable.

He added: "I had a gut feeling at the time that it was a really tough call for us because I felt there was a defender between Brett and the goal. If that's the case we'll be bitterly disappointed.

“We got into some great attacking positions and some of our forward play was very strong, but for that final part."