GOALS from Connor Mahoney, Kyle Taylor and substitute Jaidon Anthony gave Cherries a comfortable 3-0 win over MK Dons at Canford.

In chilly conditions, the hosts were in control throughout and fully deserved their victory, with goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale having precious little to do.

Ramsdale’s biggest contribution came early on when his wind-assisted goal-kick nearly allowed Mikael Ndjoli to open the scoring, only for the ball to go the wrong side of the post.

With the interval closing in, Keelan O’Connell nearly broke the deadlock but his looping header clipped the outside of the post following Jordan Lee’s cross.

In the final minute of the first half, Jack Simpson’s superb cross-field pass picked out winger Mahoney, who controlled expertly and fired into the left corner.

American international Emerson Hyndman set up Taylor for the second just before the hour mark, the latter chesting down and stroking past keeper Wieger Sietsma.

And soon after, O’Connell’s cross from the right found its way through to Anthony, who converted easily from close range.

Boss Carl Fletcher told the Daily Echo: “We had a good performance at Brentford where we asked the lads to do some different things and they took that on board and then took it into today’s game.

“It’s important for us that attitude and application are right and I was pleased with that. We also managed to flip formations during the game without too much thinking. Everyone did it seamlessly.

“When you have a mixture of first-teamers coming down, youngsters coming up and some players coming back from loans, it’s great to be able to do that.

“We were solid and the key things we look for were there. You can always improve and do certain things better but in terms of the way they applied themselves and looked like a team – even though a lot of them don’t train together – was pleasing.

“We had a lot of chances to get shots away in the first half but we were a bit too safe in our play. But it was great for Con to score and it was a great ball from Simmo as well. I felt we deserved that.

“In the second half we had the wind against us but I thought we applied ourselves well and passed the ball well.”