THERE was relief for striker Evanilson when he opened his Cherries goalscoring account against Southampton.

The club-record signing got off the mark with a fantastically taken goal on Monday night against Saints.

Quick thinking by the striker and Marcus Tavernier at a free kick saw the Englishman play a delightful ball over the defence and the Brazilian finished with a first-time volley into the bottom corner.

Andoni Iraola said there was joy for not only Evanilson but his teammates, who had seen his hard work to in training and previous games rewarded.

“I think he was relieved after the goal because I think he is very aware that he is very important for us,” Iraola said.

“He was playing well, but especially after the penalty that he missed, I think he felt like, I don't want to let down all my teammates.

(Image: Richard Crease) “You could feel it when he scores, not his reaction, but the reaction of the teammates and everyone around, because they are seeing how well he is training and how much he wanted to score the goal.”

Asked whether the goal is the first of many and whether he will get close to Dominic Solanke’s 19-goal tally from last season, the Basque boss said this is not how the forward will be evaluated.

“I want him to be the player he is,” Iraola said.

“Maybe he scores a goal, and he doesn't play well - it's not good enough for us.

“I will not evaluate only the goals he scores.

“I think he has to make us play well. In his understanding, he's getting better without the ball. I think he's helping in the press.

“The other day it was demanding because Southampton spend a lot of time on the ball.

“You have to be very consistent on your press. And I think Eva played, I think, 60-something, 70 minutes with good energy.

(Image: Richard Crease) “I will be more focused on these things than the amount of goals he scores.”

So far, the striker is yet to play a full 90 minutes, playing between 65 and 76 minutes in each of his five league appearances this term.

On whether he’ll be ready to play the full game soon, Iraola said: “I really don't know, I have to see him.

“The other day I made a change when I see him, a little bit, dropping the energy levels and we cannot sustain the press as high and that normally is when I am deciding to make the sub.

“But even if he cannot play 90 for all the season, I am happy he plays 65 top level, 70 top level. For me, I prefer this, than he saves energy and he survives 90 minutes because the team will be worse.

“But the performance for me, if he plays 65 and Enes comes on and plays the other 30, perfect for the team will be very good for me.

“I prefer him to play less minutes with a higher intensity than opposite, than start to save because it is worse for us.”