BOSS Matty Holmes praised young Cherries stopper Cameron Plain after he kept a clean sheet on his first appearance for Wimborne Town.

Signed on loan from Cherries earlier in the week, Plain on Saturday had a relatively quiet afternoon in a 2-0 pre-season triumph for Magpies at AFC Totton – thanks to goals from James Stokoe and Will Prior.

And Holmes was happy to see his new stopper, who is part of the under-18 set-up at Cherries, hit the ground running for his loan club.

The Cuthbury boss told Radio Wimborne: “He came and trained Thursday and you could see his quality straight away.

“He looks the real deal, doesn’t he? Playing out from the back – he is a superb ball striker. For a young lad he looks very confident, which is what we want.

“He has come with a high pedigree of people saying how good he is – Gareth Stewart, Neil Moss and a couple of coaches have phoned me who had him last year at Bashley and said ‘this kid is decent’.

“But it’s early days, he is coming to learn.

“He will be tested this year going to the likes of Taunton away, Salisbury away and teams like that. It is going to be tough and that will develop him – that’s what he is here to do, develop as a player.”