CHERRIES’ resounding 4-0 victory at Morecambe brought down the curtain on a tumultuous season for the club – and also had the statisticians thumbing the record books.

Brett Pitman’s double, coupled with goals from Joel Ward and Liam Feeney at Christie Park, saw Cherries register their biggest away league win for almost 30 years.

Co-incidentally, one man who will have had nightmares about Cherries’ 5-0 win at Tranmere in September 1979 watched Eddie Howe’s class of 2009 dismantle the Shrimps on Saturday.

Former Dean Court favourite John ‘Willo’ Williams, now a match summariser for BBC Radio Solent, made his debut for Tranmere against Alec Stock’s rampant Cherries at Prenton Park that day.

Willo’s baptism of fire saw Gary Borthwick and Mick Butler both net twice, while Jeff Bryant was also on target for Cherries in their Division Four showdown.

Since then, Cherries have scor-ed four or more goals in an away league game on just eight occasions, with Saturday being the most convincing winning margin.

The previous seven were – Gillingham 5-2 (1982-83), Hull 4-1 (1989-90), Bury 4-2 (1990-91), Peterborough 5-4 (1995-96), Bury 5-2 (2000-01), Crewe 4-1 (2007-08), Luton 4-1 (2007-08).

Victory at Morecambe also saw Howe’s men write a new chapter in the Dean Court record books – the club’s biggest away league win on the final day of the season.

The four other most emphatic closing-day successes all came on home soil – York 4-0 (1971), Wat-ford 4-0 (1957), Torquay 5-0 (1932) and Crystal Palace 6-1 (1926).

And just for the record, Cherries won their final three league games of the season for the first time since 1957 in Division Three (South) – Northampton (4-1), Exeter (2-1) and Watford (4-0).