LEE Bradbury has expressed his "disappointment" at his goal return - but is backing Cherries' shot-shy strike force to turn the tide.

Bradbury is still searching for his maiden league goal for the club, despite opening his account with a double in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy win over Walsall.

And the 32-year-old, who is approaching the magic 100-goal career milestone, is desperate to break his duck as Kevin Bond's troops look to boost their meagre tally.

Cherries host sixth-placed Carlisle at Dean Court on Saturday (3pm) having mustered a paltry four goals from their opening seven League One games this season.

Bradbury, who also hit a Carling Cup hat-trick for previous club Southend last month, told the Daily Echo: "I'm a bit disappointed that I haven't scored a few more goals this season.

"I've got five but they have all been in the cups so I want to get my first league goal for Bournemouth as soon as possible and start to help us climb the table.

"It would be nice to score in front of the North Stand because that's our home end and where most of the atmosphere comes from. I would love to get one there against Carlisle.

"I've been through this plenty of times before. You've just got to believe in your own ability and one of those chances will fall for you.

"Hopefully, one will fall for me sooner rather than later."

Cherries boss Bond this week urged his players to rediscover their killer instinct and also admitted he felt his frontline strikers had been starved of service.

Bradbury added: "You need chances to score and although I had a few when I first came here, I haven't had too many lately and neither has the team so that's something we've been working on."

Despite the dearth of goals, Bradbury says he has been encouraged by Cherries' recent performances and believes that it is far too early to press the panic button.

"We've got 39 league games left and there is a long way to go," he said. "We played well in the first half at Swindon last week but their second goal turned the game on its head. The scoreline didn't tell the true story.

"We can take some positives from every game, but we've got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot, grow up and learn quickly.

"We've got two home games in four days and it's a good chance to try to get six points on the board. We've got to try to not let this chance pass us by and really go for it in these next two games."

Bradbury also had words of praise for strike partner Jo Kuffour: "He looks a good prospect. He's lively, a good finisher and a strong little player as well.

"I think he just needs a bit of confidence, which a goal would bring. It makes a lot of difference to a striker. If your two strikers are confident, you can go on to score a lot more goals."

Cherries: (from) Begovic, Telfer, Young, Pearce, Wilson, Pitman, Anderton, Cooper, Hollands, Kuffour, Bradbury, Gowling, Gradel, Vokes, O'Connor, Franks, Stewart.

Carlisle United: (from) Westwood, Raven, Murphy, Livesey, Aranalde, Hackney, Lumsdon, Bridge-Wilkinson, Anyinsah, Graham, Gall, Arnison, Carlton, Garner, Smith, Howarth.