THE [Cherries](http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/cherries/clubnews/) can be proud of their start to the season after they picked up another three points on Saturday against Brighton, Marcus Tavernier said.
The Englishman played 86 minutes of the 2-1 win over the Seagulls, taking the captain’s armband after David Brooks was replaced with 23 minutes to play.
He played a key role in the Cherries’ second goal of the game, intercepting a poor Lewis Dunk pass before drawing the Brighton defenders and passing to Evanilson, who won a penalty which Antoine Semenyo converted.
Reflecting on the mood in the dressing room after the victory, Tavernier told the Daily Echo: “We’ve started the season off very well.
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“As you can see everyone's happy as a club, but we can't get too ahead of ourselves.
“Even though we will enjoy today in the moment.
“But with the results that have come in over the past few weeks have been great because it's not been easy opposition. So we can be proud of what we've done so far.”
Asked about Andoni Iraola’s message to the team before the game, against a side which did the double over Bournemouth last season, Tavernier said: “His message, he talked about our previous results against them.
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“Last season, they beat us twice and we wanted to change that this season and we had to do that by starting off really fast out the traps.
“I think you could see that with the intent and the way we pressed to start off with that it was going to be a tough game for them and we got a nice early goal through Scotty which was amazing.
“And then I feel like we controlled and dominated the game today.”
It was a slow start to the second half for the Cherries as Brighton drew themselves level three minutes after the break.
_(Image: Richard Crease)_
“I feel like we knew that in the second half as soon as the goal went in we started really, really slow in that sense,” Tavernier said.
“But we knew that we had to just lift our tempo again and I feel like we did. And then we made some changes to bring on some energy and that helped us through towards the end of the match.”
The control swung back to the hosts after the retook the lead shortly after the hour mark, Tavernier playing a huge role in winning the penalty that Semenyo converted.
Asked about reading the pass to intercept and get the Cherries moving forward, he said: “As part of the press I knew that's what the manager wants us to do, anticipate things.
“And luckily this time it paid off and then got the ball, I was probably more tired than anything once I got up there but Eva did his magic as he always does and won us another penalty which Antoine finished with no hesitation.”