EUNAN O’Kane is adamant Cherries must use the lessons learned from their League Cup defeat to inspire them to more Championship successes.

O’Kane played a starring role in Cherries’ club-record cup run, which came to an end following Liverpool’s quarter-final win at Dean Court on Wednesday.

He told the Daily Echo: “I think it took for them to go 2-0 up for us to get to grips with what was going on. They came with a point to prove, that felt like the attitude they had, and I felt we were overrun for the first 20 minutes. They are a very good side and I thought after the first 20 minutes, we started to pass the ball better.

“I’m not sure the manager would have answered with a ‘yes’ if you had asked him at the start of the season whether the League Cup was a main priority.

“But we made history by going further than any other Bournemouth team and were knocked out by a Liverpool team which finished second in the Premier League last season and spent £100million in the summer. They are no slouches and it wasn’t an upset by any means.

“The focus now has to be on the next run of games in the league. We were 12 matches unbeaten before the Liverpool game and I don’t think we can let the occasion and performance get us down. We need to draw a line under it and accept we were beaten by a very good side, learn from it and take the lessons to Blackpool.”

O’Kane, who will be hoping to feature against the bottom-of-the-table Seasiders, added: “We are at the top of the league and want to kick on and cement our place over the festive period.

“Teams near the bottom have the same attitude and know that if they can put a few wins together, they can start climbing the table.

“Although some of the teams we are playing over the festive period are down there, we will still be very focused. It will be the same mentality as it has been for the past seven or eight weeks during the unbeaten run and I don’t think there will be any complacency from anyone here.”