Adam Federici eager to keep hold of the gloves for Bournemouth

The Cherries stopper produced a hat-trick of saves in a third-round shoot-out victory over Preston at Deepdale on Tuesday after North End had twice produced late levellers in normal and extra time.

Australia international Federici has been restricted to a pair of appearances in the League Cup since moving to the south coast from Reading this summer, with Eddie Howe utilising Artur Boruc in Barclays Premier League fixtures.

The role of an understudy is not one Federici is comfortable or familiar with, though, and he is eager to stake his claim to Howe when called upon.

"I thought I did well in pre-season and was unlucky not to start the season but that's football," the 30-year-old said.

"I'll continue to work hard

I'm desperate to play, everyone knows that

I love playing and it's not my forte to sit on the bench

I'll keep working hard in training and when my chance comes hopefully I'll take it, like I did (at Preston).

"It's a little bit different for me but I wanted a new challenge at a higher level

At the same time, the manager's fantastic and the training's top notch.

"I'll have to bide my time and performances like this help and I look forward to hopefully getting my chance very soon."

Federici was beaten from 12 yards in the dying stages of extra time by North End midfielder Daniel Johnson when he slotted past the keeper's right, but it was in that same region where the Aussie made each of his denials in the shoot-out

Jordan Hugill, Alan Browne and Johnson all had efforts repelled when picking that corner, although Federici revealed it was his judgement in the moment, rather than any pre-match preparation, that led to the trio of saves

"You've got to go with your feeling on the night," he noted

" You try to wind up the players up a little bit and do what you do to make a difference

I was just grateful I played my part

"You just get a feeling which way you're going and thankfully I managed to get my hand on a couple and they stayed out."

Despite their exit, Preston were applauded off the pitch by a fanbase that admired their spirit to fight back on two occasions as they attempted to follow up their victory over Watford in the last round

The loss extended their winless streak to five games but Will Keane was quick to highlight the character of the squad in taking Bournemouth the distance

"After playing 120 minutes we are desperately disappointed to lose the game having come back twice," the Manchester United loanee said

"We knew we'd be underdogs coming into the game

We pushed them as far as we could so there's a lot of positives going into Saturday

"I think we held our own against both Premier League teams - on another night we could probably have scored a couple more and could have gone through to the next round

"There are a lot of positives and I'm sure the lads will build on that now."

Source : PA

Source: PA