MANAGER Eddie Howe presided over Cherries’ biggest win in the second flight in their history and then urged his players to “build on it”.

Yann Kermorgant’s hat-trick and Harry Arter’s double saw Cherries register a comprehensive 5-0 triumph over Championship strugglers Doncaster on Saturday.

The margin of victory eclipsed two four-goal wins against Hull City at Dean Court during Cherries’ previous spell in the second tier in 1987-88 and 1988-89.

Howe said: “We were probably a little disappointed we didn’t get more, which may seem a strange thing to say after we scored five.

“We had some really good opportunities and it was a real credit to our attacking play and some of our passing moves in and around the box.

“I have been critical this season of us lacking that cutting edge and the final decision but we got all aspects of our game right and it was a good goalscoring performance but also a good defensive performance with an important clean sheet.

“It is easy to talk about good things but you really have to deliver. We felt a good home performance had been coming. We know we have goals in the team and we know we are a good defensive team but we hadn’t shown that in recent weeks so, to get everything to come together in one game, was very important.”

Victory hoisted Cherries 12 points clear of the relegation zone ahead of their forthcoming north west double-header against Blackpool and Blackburn.

“We don’t want to get sucked into a relegation scrap and want to get our points early if we can,” added Howe. “Positive results against the teams in and around us are very important so, hopefully, this will give us more confidence going into what is a tough run of games.

“We have to build on it. This was one result in isolation, one lot of three points. We have some tough away games coming up but they are games we can really enjoy.

“We played well and the lads were on the front foot right from the start. We were creative and the pleasing thing from my perspective was that we created chances and worked their goalkeeper. Hopefully, those goals will give the lads huge belief that we can be a real attacking threat.

“A lot has been said about our attacking play but we believe we have good players. You just had to look at the quality of our bench and how strong it was so, hopefully, that is a good sign. The clean sheet was important because we have worked very hard on our defensive structure and defensive play in the past month. It was a fitting reward for our defenders who have put in a lot of effort.”