CHERRIES boss Kevin Bond has hailed Lee Bradbury as "a great pro" after leaving his frontline striker benched for the first time this season.

Bradbury had been ever present since joining Cherries in August until a hotly-disputed sending off against Leeds saw him collect a three-match ban.

The 32-year-old subsequently returned to produce a series of indifferent displays, culminating in him being an unused substitute in the 3-1 defeat at Tranmere six days ago.

Bond said: "He hasn't looked himself since he came back from the suspension and it is a position where we've got three fit strikers with Brett Pitman, Sam Vokes and Bradders so I decided to make a change, hopefully just to sharpen him up a bit.

"I've spoken to him about it. He's a terrific lad and a great pro and has taken it in absolutely the right way. He's been working harder than ever in training to get back to where he was.

"Competition keeps everybody on their toes and it would be nice in a situation if the other lads were banging in the goals and making it difficult to change things. That's the sort of scenario I'm looking for."

Bond has been looking to bolster his firepower options since the start of the season, with Charlton striker Chris Dickson once among his targets.

And Cherries will tomorrow come face to face with Dickson when they host Gillingham, the 22-year-old having bagged 11 goals during a fruitful loan spell with the Kent club.

"He's a goalscorer in a rich vein of form," said Bond. "We need to be aware of him because he is taking his chances at the moment. He'll be feeling great about himself because he is scoring every week and we will need to keep a close eye on him."

Currently 16th, the Gills - under new manager Mark Stimson - arrive with the second worst away record in League One, while bottom-placed Cherries are still searching for their first home league victory of the season.

Bond added: "We are looking to win and will do everything we can to win. We can't afford to be gung-ho about it but we'll be giving it our level best. Everybody is up for it and we hope we can get that monkey off our back."

Asked whether he felt the team was taking to the field for home games in trepidation, Bond replied: "It certainly does affect them but perhaps not at the start of a game.

"You build up their confidence and they go into the games hopefully full of it. But if you have a setback or things don't go the way we want them to go and everybody gets nervous then that's when perhaps it starts to affect people. We clearly need to get something on the board, as the statistics have clearly proved."

Russ Perrett has an outside chance of returning to the Cherries squad, although Darren Anderton and Jo Kuffour are both unlikely to feature. Neil Young could be handed the captain's armband.