MARAUDING full-back Simon Francis insisted boss Eddie Howe’s innovative approach on the training ground had been the catalyst behind Cherries’ recent glut of goals.

Table-topping Cherries have established themselves as the Football League’s top goalscorers, bursting the net with no fewer than 44 strikes in 21 Championship outings.

Francis and his partner-in-crime Matt Ritchie have either assisted or scored 20 of them, playing a direct role in more second-tier goals than Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham or tomorrow’s opponents Blackpool (3pm) have mustered all season.

Ritchie is currently the Championship’s top assist-maker with 10, following in the footsteps of Francis who teed up nine goals last season – more than any other Cherries player.

And with the help of boss Howe, Francis remains confident the right-sided double act can continue to outfox opponents.

Francis told the Daily Echo: “It has probably taken a couple of years to get to where we are now but we complement each other’s game pretty well.

“You have your off days where it doesn’t work as well as it should but for the majority of this season it has been good. The statistics are mainly down to Matty but I am happy to have chipped in with a few assists and a goal of my own.

“It does take a lot of hard work and working partnerships are a key part of our game throughout the side.

“We like to get the ball wide and work on combination play and the main reason it works is that Matty is left-footed. A lot of the time he will look to come inside which opens the space for me out wide.

“We have come up against a few teams this season who have clearly done their homework and we have, at times, found it hard to get things going.

“Sometimes you have to mix it up and I would like to think that is why we are one of the top teams in the league because we can quickly change things when we need to.

“The manager has us working on so many different aspects day in, day out so we manage to stay one step ahead as best we can.”

Meanwhile, Francis warned that backmarkers Blackpool would be no pushovers at Bloomfield Road, particularly following their recent recruitment drive.

“They have some good players individually,” he added. “The new manager has brought in a couple and, make no mistake, it will be a tough game.

“It is a banana skin. People see it is top-versus-bottom and imagine we will win quite easily but that will not be the case.

“We will need to get our game going early on and start well like we have over the past few games. If we do that, we should be able to cause some problems and, hopefully, win the game.”