THE solution to Cherries' mystifying home form could be far simpler than Kevin Bond seems to think.

After watching his side suffer a second successive Dean Court reverse, boss Bond was at pains to proffer an explanation.

Impressive in their two away outings at Nottingham Forest and Doncaster, Cherries' unpredictable streak has reared its ugly head at the Fitness First Stadium.

Bond believes two possibilities for the contrasting fortunes could be either the "personnel" or the "system".

However, with Luke Rodgers bagging the only goal of the game, it appears the answer to the conundrum could be far less scientific.

Rodgers came off the bench to fire the Valiants to their first win of the season and their third consecutive victory at Dean Court when he netted with eight minutes remaining.

And, in doing so, he also became the second opposition player with the Christian name Luke to inflict a 1-0 home defeat on Cherries this season.

Rodgers scored with a clinically-taken strike to follow in the footsteps of Huddersfield's Luke Beckett, the only other marksman to find the target at Dean Court since the new campaign began.

Cherries, therefore, will be pleased to discover that neither Walsall, tomorrow's visitors in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, nor Northampton, the next league opponents at the Dorset venue, are likely to include a Luke in their ranks.

However, with Carlisle due to visit Dean Court at the end of this month and Nottingham Forest arriving in February, Bond may wish to prepare his defenders for the onerous task of keeping tabs on Lukes Joyce and Chambers, respectively.

Fresh from his side's heroic triumph at Doncaster, Bond kept faith with the same personnel and system for the visit of the Valiants with the only change coming on the bench where Paul Telfer was preferred to Neil Young.

And in not dissimilar circumstances to the Keepmoat, Cherries came under fierce attack during the opening stages as Vale made an enterprising start.

"They started a lot better than us and you would have thought that they were the home side," admitted Cherries striker Lee Bradbury. "It was probably a fair result because we weren't at it in the first half.

"We pushed on a bit in the second half and looked like a good side for 15 to 20 minutes and that was when we had most of our chances.

"We had four or five decent opportunities and were disappointed we didn't put a couple away," added Bradbury, who featured heavily in two of those near-misses.

Cherries would have counted themselves more than a tad fortunate to have reached the interval on level terms such was Vale's dominance of both possession and chances.

However, at the same time, Bond's charges should have gone in a goal to the good having squandered easily the clearest opportunity of the first half.

It presented itself to Garreth O'Connor in the 32nd minute and came after Darren Anderton's inviting cross had sat up and begged to be headed past Vale goalkeeper Joe Anyon at the far post.

Instead, an unmarked O'Connor nodded the ball straight down Anyon's throat from around eight yards. The Irishman's reaction told its own story.

On a day when candidates for the sponsors' bubbly were in short supply for the hosts, Vale midfielder Danny Whitaker unwittingly staked his claim for the Cherries man-of-the-match plaudits.

Such was his profligacy that it was difficult to tell at times whether Whitaker's boots were actually on the right feet, his errant effort in the 71st minute possibly eclipsing O'Connor's howling miss.

Whitaker twice went close in the opening six minutes, his first shot clearing the crossbar before Asmir Begovic acrobatically flicked his second over the top.

In a rare Cherries attack, Jo Kuffour's angled drive was comfortably saved by Anyon before another Whitaker pot-shot flew wide, as did Shane Tudor's speculative drive.

Tudor wastefully fired straight at Begovic after being played in by Paul Harsley before the Cherries goalkeeper saved with his knees low down from David McGoldrick.

The last word of the first half should have gone to O'Connor, while referee Andy D'Urso should have had the final say at the start of the second period when Kuffour was sent sprawling.

But Cherries' strongest claim for a penalty fell on dear ears, even though Vale skipper George Pilkington appeared to deliberately upend Kuffour in full view of D'Urso.

Anyon pulled off a top-drawer save to deny Bradbury, the goalkeeper diving full length to his left to scoop away the striker's close-range header from Max Gradel's hanging cross.

"It was a high, looping cross and I just tried to hit the target," said Bradbury. "I knew the keeper was the other side of the goal, but he got across quickly and got a hand to it."

Anyon again denied Bradbury with a smart stop in the 63rd minute after Kuffour had set him free with a delightful crossfield pass.

"I pulled off and Jo slipped me in," said Bradbury. "I thought the keeper was going one way so I put it the other. But he sprung off his standing leg and saved it.

"When you get a couple of chances like that, you've got to score one of them. As a team, we were disappointed with our finishing."

Tudor, booked for an earlier foul on Warren Cummings, inexplicably escaped a second yellow card after taking a dive in the box under Ryan Garry's 70th-minute tackle.

But after substitute Rodgers had added his name to the lengthening miss-list when he side-footed wide from Whitaker's cut-back, the breakthrough came eight minutes from time.

McGoldrick nipped in front of Josh Gowling to flick the ball into Rodgers's path before the striker held off Garry and finished with a crisp, left-footed half-volley from around 16 yards.

Cherries went in search of a response and Brett Pitman's stunning 30-yard drive would have raised the roof had it not flashed the wrong side of the woodwork.

Shirt tugs by Ashley Westwood on Kuffour and Justin Miller on the lively Sam Vokes went unpunished before Gowling summed up Cherries' misfiring misfortune when he shot tamely at Anyon in the dying seconds.