JOSHUA King netted his first goals of the season to help Cherries see off a stubborn Oldham Athletic and progress into the FA Cup fourth round.

The League Two side had the better of the first half and went in level after Dylan Bahamboula’s penalty cancelled out a deflected David Brooks strike.

Cherries improved markedly after the restart, taking the lead through Rodrigo Riquelme before King nodded in, netting for the first time since July, ending a 13-game drought for club and country.

King then struck again in the closing stages to seal a 4-1 victory.

Jason Tindall’s men will find out their next opponents of the competition in Monday’s draw.

Tindall made wholesale changes from last weekend’s win over Stoke City. There were 10 in all with only Jack Simpson keeping his place. Among those to come in were goalkeeper Will Dennis and Tottenham loanee Cameron Carter-Vickers, both making their Cherries debuts.

There was also a first start of the season for Gavin Kilkenny, while King led the line and Jack Stacey was also in the XI after returning from injury.

The tie had originally been scheduled to take place at Oldham’s Boundary Park, but was switched to avoid a potential postponement due to a frozen pitch at the Latics’ ground.

However, the visitors looked right at home from the off with Bahamboula crashing an early shot into the side netting.

Cherries were struggling to get anything going as Oldham, who at kick-off sat 59 places below the hosts in the league pyramid, controlled the ball, going close again when captain Carl Piergianni’s header was clawed away by Dennis.

The response soon came through a driving Brooks who burst down the right and teed up Philip Billing, who fired just wide of the bottom corner.

Riquelme flashed a shot off target before Cherries were afforded a huge let-off.

After Kilkenny had been dispossessed, Carter-Vickers did well to retreat and deny Davis Keillor-Dunn. However, Oldham kept the attack alive with Jordan Barnett waltzing into the box and curling towards the far corner, but his shot came back off the inside of the post.

Just as the half looked to be ending goalless, Cherries snatched the opener. Kilkenny played it into the feet of King, who laid it up for Brooks to lash in, courtesy of a fortuitous deflection off defender Harry Clarke.

However, the joy was short-lived as Kewell’s charges deservedly equalised before the break. Despite pulling his arms away, a sliding Dennis was penalised for bringing down Keillor-Dunn in the box. That allowed Bahamboula the opportunity from 12 yards and the Congo international made no mistake, firing hard past Dennis despite the young stopper diving the right way.

Tindall made a switch at the break, introducing Diego Rico in place of Dan Gosling and switching to a back three. Stacey took the captain’s armband.

And the new skipper was quickly involved to get Cherries back in front. Now operating from wing-back, Stacey burst forward and received the ball from Brooks before crossing low. There he found Riquelme and after a couple of bites of the cherry, the Spaniard prodded home his second goal for the club.

Cherries were looking much brighter, Riquelme calling goalkeeper Lawlor into a low stop before Brooks twice went close.

Zemura also found space in the box, but his right-footed effort struck the body of a sprawling Lawlor.

Chances had become few and far between for the visitors, but they almost created one when the ball bobbled to Barnett, but Cherries scrambled clear the danger. Alfie McCalmont also fired wide as the Latics looked for a leveller.

But their hopes were dashed when Cherries added a third at the other end. Having had a sighter two minutes earlier with a shot parried away, King finally got off the mark for the campaign.

The striker rose highest to meet substitute Adam Smith’s cross and his header had enough power to beat both Lawlor and defender Piergianni as he looked to scramble clear off the line.

Tindall turned to his bench again for the closing minutes, with Sam Surridge among those introduced. The forward scored 12 goals for Oldham during a fruitful loan spell during the 2018-19 campaign.

But it was strike partner King who would find the net again to add some gloss to the win. A low cross from Rico was smartly dummied by substitute Jaidon Anthony, allowing King to fire into the bottom corner.

Surridge did have a late chance to get his name on the scoresheet, but dragged his shot wide.

Cherries: Dennis; Stacey (Smith, 67), Carter-Vickers, Simpson, Zemura (Lerma, 78); Billing (Surridge, 78), Kilkenny, Gosling (Rico, h-t); Brooks (Anthony, 67), Riquelme, King.

Unused subs: S Cook, L Cook, Begovic (g/k).

Booked: None.

Oldham: Lawlor; Hamer, Diarra (Dearnley, 71), Piergianni, Clarke, Barnett; Garrity (Whelan, 78), Ntambwe (McAleny, 67), McCalmont, Keillor-Dunn; Bahamboula.

Unused subs: Jombati, Fage, Jameson, Badan, Luamba, Bilboe (g/k).

Booked: Clarke.

Referee: Andy Woolmer.