RIVAL managers Kevin Bond and George Burley were united in their criticism of referee Keith Stroud after this south coast friendly had turned nasty.

Stroud took centre stage when he sent off Saints defender Darren Powell and booked Cherries trialist Phil Mulryne following a first-half flare-up.

Powell reacted angrily and allegedly threw a punch at Mulryne after the Ulsterman had caught him with a full-blooded tackle in the 17th minute.

The incident sparked furious exchanges between players from both camps before Powell received his marching orders after Stroud had consulted his assistant.

And although Stroud had little option but to dismiss Powell for violent conduct, both Burley and Bond felt the Premiership official should have handled the matter differently.

Bond said: "It was ridiculous. I saw what happened and it was something and nothing. I don't know why the referee couldn't have just told them both to calm down and get on with it.

"I know the referee is under a bit of pressure to apply the law but I really wish that some of them would be strong enough to use a bit of common sense so I was really disappointed with that.

"Nobody wants to see players sent off and you want to beat teams because you're better than them. It didn't spoil the game, but it certainly didn't help. I was disappointed and I'm sure George will be doubly disappointed."

Stroud confirmed to the Daily Echo that details of the red card would be sent to the FA, meaning Powell is likely to receive a three-match suspension as punishment for his retaliation.

Burley, who will be without the defender for Saints' first three league games of the new season, said: "I thought it was handbags and felt common sense should have prevailed. It happened very quickly but nobody got hurt. I think a warning would have been quite sufficient. But the referee has made his decision and we can't change it."

The flashpoint failed to take the gloss off an entertaining encounter, which saw Sam Vokes's header for Cherries sandwiched between strikes from Kenwynne Jones and Bradley Wright-Phillips for Saints.

Bond added: "I thought it was a good game. We gave away a couple of bad goals and, apart from a couple of incidents when we should have defended better, I thought we did okay.

"We got back on level terms and started to get after them a bit more in the second half. We know where our deficiencies lie, but I thought the players acquitted themselves really well."

Darren Anderton, who Bond felt had "run the show", was involved early on as Cherries created a couple of noteworthy goalscoring chances.

His clever flick to Vokes saw the teenager volley straight down Bartosz Bialkowski's throat before the Saints goalkeeper acrobatically pushed the former England star's blistering 30-yard free kick past the post.

Wright-Phillips then thundered a right-foot shot against the crossbar before all hell broke loose after Mulryne had upended Powell with his no-holds-barred challenge.

Saints boss Burley looked far from impressed with Stroud as Powell trudged off the pitch, although perhaps his ire should have been directed at the player rather than the official.

Burley must then have been left to wonder how Grzegorz Rasiak missed a glorious chance to give Saints the lead, the Pole dragging his effort wide of a gaping goal after he had neatly lifted the ball over Neil Moss.

Rasiak was also denied when he outjumped the Cherries defence to meet Adam Hammill's cross with Russ Perrett on hand to clear his goalbound header.

Rudi Skacel clearly left his shooting boots behind, the Czech midfielder somehow managing to sky a shot over the North Stand, much to the hilarity of the home supporters.

Skacel also saw his free kick plucked from under the crossbar by Moss before he sent another drive flashing across the face of the goalmouth after being set up by Rasiak.

Jones made an immediate impact after going on as an interval substitute, the tall striker finishing left-footed into the bottom corner with a splendid shot on the turn from just inside the 18-yard box.

But Cherries responded when a sweeping move started by Anderton's crossfield pass to Mulryne ended with Vokes heading home after Kuffour had turned the ball back into the danger zone.

However, parity was short-lived as Wright-Phillips restored Saints' lead when he capitalised on Moss's spillage from Alex Ostlund's high cross to fire into an unguarded net.

A flurry of substitutions saw Cherries field another batch of trialists with Tannoy announcer Michael Botto staking his claim for the man-of-the-match plaudits with a series of expert pronunciations.