CHERRIES boss Kevin Bond is leaving no stone unturned as he prepares his side for their Johnstone's Paint Trophy first round tie against Walsall tonight (7.45pm).

Knowing that a number of his new-look squad have never play-ed competitively under the Dean Court floodlights, the Cherries boss is keen to ensure they feel at home going into the clash.

And in a bid to have them fully prepared to face the Saddlers, Bond drafted in his players for an evening training session.

Bond, speaking ahead of the twilight session, told the Daily Echo: "We've got a lot of new players and none of them have been under lights at our ground except during pre-season friendlies. It shouldn't make a whole lot of difference but it just gives the opportunity to play in conditions they will play in against Walsall."

Bond likened the evening session to the pre-match drill British teams go through to acclimatise themselves ahead of contesting Champions' League games on foreign soil.

He added: "Why do football teams train on the pitch the night before European games? They're just trying to get a feel for it. We train on the pitch under normal conditions and we'll do it in evening conditions as well."

Cherries, who beat Walsall to book a Wembley final date in the 1997 Auto Windscreens Shield, will be looking to register their first home win of the season following two league defeats.

And although the competition has its critics, particularly during the early rounds, Bond is certainly not among them.

Bond said: "It's a game I really want to win. I want to get back to winning ways and this is an important competition for us.

"People don't think it's (much maligned) when they watch the final at Wembley and I would very much like to see us do well in this competition."

Bond says he is unlikely to tinker with his line-up too much and insists he "won't be making changes for the sake of it".

However, groin injuries look set to rule out Ryan Garry, Shaun Cooper and Marvin Bartley. Cooper sustained his injury during the warm-up ahead of Cherries' 1-0 defeat by Port Vale on Saturday.

Russ Perrett could be added to the squad but Sam Vokes is away on international duty with Wales under-21s.