Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe admits it was difficult to send Marc Pugh away on-loan to Hull City.

The Cherries' long-serving winger yesterday joined the Championship promotion hopefuls on a temporary deal for the rest of the season.

Howe told afcbTV: "We did this deal for Marc and for no other reason.

"If we were to look at it selfishly, I think we would have kept him because he is an unbelievable guy to have around.

"Marc is a very positive person who acts the same professional way whether he is in or out of the team. He is a great squad player and someone who is all about the team.

"But we just felt it had been too long since Marc had played regularly and, because his attitude had been so good every day and he hadn't let us down for a moment, we felt it was our duty to repay that in the only way we can for the best of his career.

"In my opinion, Marc is still good enough to perform at this level – it is just that the quality of players ahead of him have all performed at such a high level this season so it's been with a very heavy heart that we made the decision to loan him out."