MANAGER Eddie Howe felt Bournemouth deserved the lucky break they got from the officials after overcoming Wigan 3-1 in the Sky Bet Championship.

Wigan had enjoyed the best of the opening 30 minutes at the DW Stadium, hitting the bar through James McClean, before falling behind in controversial circumstances nine minutes before half-time.

Callum Wilson looked well offside when he latched on to Yann Kermorgant’s flick to slip the ball past Ali Al Habsi, before Kermorgant quickly made it 2-0 after a mistake by Chris McCann.

Wilson’s second goal shortly after the restart rendered Leon Clarke’s debut goal on the hour mark scant consolation, and Howe felt it was a thoroughly-warranted victory despite the massive “helping hand”.

“I thought Wigan made a decent start to the game, but once we got hold of the ball and got our passing game sorted I thought we dominated,” reflected Howe.

“Although the first goal was controversial and gave us a helping hand, it was no more than we deserved and it was a comfortable victory for us.”

When pressed on the opening goal, he added: “I was surprised the flag didn’t go up, I have to be honest.

“It was a harsh one for them to take. It’s obviously a pleasing one for us.

“But we had one of those happen to us at Leeds, when we scored a perfectly good goal that was disallowed for offside, so it’s swings and roundabouts.”

Clarke’s close-range header threatened to make it an anxious last half an hour for the Cherries, but Howe was pleased with how they ran down the clock and played the game out.

“It’s something we’ve had to develop, it’s not always been there for us,” he acknowledged. “When we got promoted from League One there were times when we didn’t manage situations as well as we did today.”