IT MAY have only been the Hampshire Senior Cup, but David Brooks gave everybody an exciting glimpse last night of what he may be able to inject into Cherries’ survival bid.

All eyes were on the 25-year-old, making his first start since last playing for the development squad, in a friendly at Brentford back in August.

Brooks did not last long on that occasion, withdrawn due to a hamstring injury, which would keep him out for months.

But, after his emotional first-team return on Saturday, playing 11 minutes off the bench in the Premier League loss at Aston Villa, Brooks completed 45 minutes against Portsmouth at Vitality Stadium.

And what a half it was for the Wales international, who has been out of action for 18 months after battling and beating cancer.

REPORT: Brooks steps up recovery with hat-trick for development squad against Pompey

Brooks lined up on the right of a front three alongside Alan Connell’s young charges, against a Portsmouth side who featured seven senior players from their League One squad and with first-team boss John Mousinho in the dugout.

Among the members of the Pompey squad to start was 24-year-old left-back Denver Hume, who was in direct competition with Brooks on the wing.

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With Cherries’ first-team boss Gary O’Neil watching on from the stands, Brooks made his intentions clear from the first minute, collecting possession on the right, drifting infield and finding a pass.

Brooks then linked up with right-back Brooklyn Genesini, before nutmegging Tom Lowery.

Everything was going through the Wales international, who in the third minute skipped away from Michael Jacobs before gliding over from the right flank into the box, looking for a pass.

Less than a minute later, he showed his Premier League and international class with a sublime pass over the Portsmouth defence. Ben Winterburn latched onto it, but his attempted lob was saved.

Against the run of play, Pompey opened up a two-goal lead with Tom Lowery and Koby Mottoh.

Then came a scintillating 12-minute spell where everything Brooks touched turned to gold.

After Pompey gave the ball away, Winterburn picked out an unmarked Brooks, breaking into the box. His low shot across goal was saved by goalkeeper Josh Oluwayemi, but as Josh Dockerill attempted to clear, he could only cannon his kick into an onrushing Brooks. The ball spun up into the air and over the line as Brooks marked his return with a bizarre goal to delight the home fans. It was his first goal at Vitality Stadium since a 5-0 win over Milton Keynes Dons in the Carabao Cup in July 2021.

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Five minutes later, he turned provider. Brooks collected the ball on the halfway line and drove at Hume before firing a pass inside to Daniel Adu-Adjei.

The young striker charged through on goal and finished with aplomb.

Soon after, Brooks was back on the scoresheet. Holding his position wide on the right flank, he collected the ball around 40 yards from goal.

The former Sheffield United man again drifted in from the right, running at Hume, who backed away and could only deflect the shot from the edge of the box up over Oluwayemi.

Cherries had their tails up and pounced on another sloppy Pompey pass. Brooks anticipated the mistake, running off Hume and into the box. He had the freedom of Vitality Stadium to pick his spot, sliding a right-footed effort into the bottom corner to complete his hat-trick.

Confidence was clearly flowing for the winger, who showed his skill to draw a foul from Jay Mingi, before battling hard to win back possession on 43 minutes.

Brooks, given his longest runout in front of a crowd since September 2021, had a couple of questionable moments defensively as the half wore down, before being withdrawn at the break.

Cherries went on to win 5-2 and book their place in the semi-finals, with Adu-Adjei bagging a brace.

It is of course still very early days for Brooks. He faces big competition for minutes in Cherries first team, with Dango Ouattara one of the club’s standout performers in recent weeks, also playing off the right wing.

But last night will have done nothing to dissuade O’Neil against continuing to try and introduce Brooks into Premier League matches during the run-in.

Brooks looked a class above on the night, unsurprisingly named man-of-the-match and showed, with space to run into, he can still cause experienced defenders a whole world of problems.

Having him available to come off the bench and make an impact in the last 11 games of the season could prove to be a huge weapon for O’Neil in the next couple of months.