WINGER Marc Pugh has warned Cherries to beware the wounded animal when Cardiff visit Dean Court on Saturday (3pm).

Cherries eased to a comfortable 3-0 League Cup win over the Bluebirds in September, despite making seven changes to the side that had drawn 1-1 at Watford three days previously.

Cardiff were without a permanent manager at that point having axed Ole Gunnar Solskjær and joint interim boss Scott Young described the performance as “not acceptable”.

Pugh, 27, is confident the Welsh outfit will put up a better performance than they did at the Cardiff City Stadium a little over 11 weeks ago.

The ex-Hereford man told the Daily Echo: “Cardiff is going to be tough and it will not be a walkover like it was in the cup. I felt we played really well that night but they changed quite a few players for that game.

“It was quite an easy win and it’s definitely not going to be easy when they come down here because they will be wounded from that.

“They have got a lot of individual quality. I think they are quite a direct side with Kenwyne Jones in the team but they are also good footballers.

“They have got a new manager in Russell Slade and whenever we’ve come up against him before his sides are solid and hard to break down.

“He comes across as a really nice guy and wherever he’s been he’s done really well. He gets his teams to work hard and put their opponents under pressure.

“They will probably get lots of balls in the box and we will have to defend really well and be solid as a team. Hopefully, we can get our attacking game going and be a real threat on the day.”

With Cherries’ promotion rivals Derby and Middlesbrough due to clash at the Riverside in a lunchtime kick-off on Saturday, Pugh admitted a stalemate would benefit his side.

He added: “You’d like a draw but to be honest we just have to concentrate on our own performances and the rest will take care of itself.

“We always load the results up after the games. It’s hard not to take notice if you are in and amongst it.

“You just want to be as successful as possible as a team. Whether we’ve won, lost or drawn we always look at our position in the table.”