MARC Pugh revealed how he had replicated Saturday’s scintillating strike against Brighton in training against former goalkeeper Jimmy Glass.

Glass, now Cherries’ player liaison officer, stepped between the sticks last week to help the winger prepare for just his third senior appearance in a major competition this season. Pugh’s 20-yard curling effort proved enough to beat Seagulls stopper Jason Steele in the Dorset club’s 3-1 FA Cup third-round defeat.

It was his first goal for Cherries since August 2017.

And the Bacup-born star revealed how Glass – Carlisle United’s heroic goalscorer to keep them in the Football League in 1999 – had helped him put in the hard yards.

Stalwart Pugh told the Daily Echo: “The gaffer told me earlier in the week I was going to play so I worked a hell of a lot on my finishing. Jimmy Glass was in goal. Although he hasn’t lost it – he gave me a bit of confidence! Thankfully, it paid dividends with a nice little strike.

“Jimmy is good as gold. He jokes with me and says ‘you can never lose what you never had’. My goal on Saturday was what I had been working on.

“If you put the work in on the training ground, you hope it pays off and it did.”