CHERRIES rounded off their pre-season friendly campaign with a resounding 5-2 victory over French top-flight outfit Marseille today.

Eddie Howe’s men ran ragged the Olympians during a one-sided first half at Vitality Stadium and continued to turn on the style early in the second period.

Marseille, fourth in Ligue 1 last season, were convincingly beaten by Joshua King’s double and goals from Adam Smith, Ryan Fraser and Callum Wilson.

A slick first-half showing saw Cherries reach the break leading 3-0 thanks to King’s finely-taken double and Smith lightning-quick opener.

And efforts from Fraser and Wilson five minutes into the second half saw Cherries race into a 5-0 lead before Valere Germain and Maxime Lopez netted consolations for the visitors.

Fast-starting Cherries drew first blood when Smith opened the scoring after just 16 seconds.

Smith drilled an unstoppable right-foot shot into the top corner after the Marseille defence had failed to clear a Fraser cross.

Wilson was beaten to Fraser’s delicate pass by Marseille goalkeeper Yohan Pele with Cherries appealing in vain for a penalty after the Cherries striker had been upended.

Pele was forced to tip Fraser’s stinging drive over the crossbar before the goalkeeper also saved from David Brooks as Cherries continued to assert.

A hairline offside decision ruled out an effort from Kostas Mitroglu as the visitors looked for a response.

However, Cherries deservedly doubled their lead through King midway through the first half with Fraser again supplying the assist.

Fed the ball by Dan Gosling on the left, Fraser’s delightful cross into the danger zone was cleverly guided past Pele by King after he had nipped in front of his marker.

Steve Cook’s timely block prevented former West Ham playmaker Dimitri Payet from pulling one back for the French outfit before Cherries added a third.

King applied another assured finish to beat Pele after Brooks’s incisive pass had split the Marseille defence.

Asmir Begovic dived full length to his right to claw an effort from Payet to safety before Mitroglu swept a cross from Valere Germain over the top.

Fraser made it 4-0 just two minutes into the second half, the Scotsman bagging the goal his excellent performance had deserved.

His low shot squirmed through the grasp of Pele after King had crossed from the right having been sent scampering down the wing by Brooks’s pass.

And Wilson quickly added a fifth, the striker side-footing past Pele after outwitting his marker with a neat turn having latched on to Andrew Surman’s racking pass.

Germain pulled one back for the visitors when he drilled home at the far post following a cross from the right.

For once, King’s scoring touch deserted him when he found the car park behind the Ted MacDougall Stand after being picked out by Smith’s low centre.

Marseille substitute Clinton N’Jie saw his speculative effort from 35 yards just clear the crossbar before Lopez completed the scoring late on with a rasping drive.

Cherries: Begovic, A Smith, S Cook, Ake (Hyndman, 52), Daniels, Gosling, Surman, Brooks (Hobson, 84), Fraser (Dobre, 76), Wilson, King (Worthington, 76).