SKIPPER Alan Manning was delighted with Bournemouth’s response to coach David Dunn’s calculated pre-match “mid-table mediocrity” taunt after they hammered Reading 37-8 at home.

Dunn had made his comments after Lions threw away a 17-point lead in a demoralising 20-20 draw against Exmouth at Chapel Gate in their previous National Three South West contest.

Manning admitted he had agreed with the coach’s view, and had also got his players together before Reading’s visit to pointedly tell them they had to improve or think about finding other clubs.

So Manning and Dunn will be delighted with the outcome – a convincing four-try romp which also earned one bonus point as Bournemouth jumped up to fifth in the table.

Lions touched down through full-debut man Ryan Maidment, Frazer Wilford, Rory Hearson and Mike Pope.

Manning, who saw Pope add four conversions and three penalties, said: “I was very impressed with Ryan, who is a young lad coming in at scrum half.

“His support play and distribution was really key to our success.

“Fraser has worked hard since he joined the club from Havant and was characteristically backing up a rolling maul when he scored.

“The shock of losing a big lead against Exmouth was still very much on our minds.

“So I’d asked the players ‘are you happy being an average team in mid-table or do we really want to push forward?’ “The lads knew we had to play for 80 minutes, not 40 or 60, and that’s what they did on Saturday.”

Bournemouth: Pope, Davies (Wainimala 68), Stewart, Chislett, Hearson, Ngapaku, Maidment, Lynch (Wareham 40), Wilford, Manning, Seward, Forrest, Dunkerley, Le Roux, Kiely.