STEVE Fletcher hailed Shaun Cooper’s resilience after revealing the Dean Court stalwart had pledged his future to Cherries.

Cooper this week put pen to paper on an extended Dean Court deal, tying him to the club until 2013.

The Isle of Wight-born defender, who had signed a one-year deal in June, was restricted to just six league appearances during last season’s epic League Two campaign after undergoing major hip surgery the previous summer.

But after 11 months on the sidelines, the 27-year-old returned in March to help Cherries win five of their final six games and secure promotion behind champions Notts County.

Assistant boss Fletcher told the Echo: “We wanted to get Coops signed up and it’s good to have the majority of the boys on longer contracts.

“He is great to have around and is a great character. He has been at the club for a number of years now and thoroughly deserves to be offered the extension.

“I was in the gym with him a few times while he was injured and he always had that worry in the back of his mind about his hip because it was such a long-term injury.

“I spoke to him quite regularly because I was out for more than a year with my knee so I knew how he was feeling. I told him to be positive and I knew that once he had his first training session, everything would fall into place.”

Fletcher, who watched Cooper make his 154th Cherries league appearance in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Walsall, added: “He has been magnificent since he came back into the team.

“At the end of last season, I don’t think it was a coincidence that we won our last four home games after he had returned. That pretty much sealed promotion for us and proves how vital he is to the squad.

“Coops has been a mainstay for us over the past few weeks as well and is one of the main reasons the team has done so well.”

Cooper is the latest Dean Court star to put pen to paper on a longer-term deal, with Mark Molesley, Harry Arter, Danny Ings and Joe Partington all committing themselves until at least 2013.

Fletcher said: “We believe we have a great squad here and it’s fantastic that the board recognises that by helping us get the lads on long-term contracts.

“They deserve it and it hasn’t happened for a few years. In the past we had only worked on year-to-year deals, but long may this continue.

“It’s fabulous for Lee and I that these lads want to stay here. They are happy here and nothing pleases me more as assistant manager than to offer someone a deal and practically straight away they are happy with it.

“The players we have brought in and tied down so far have all come straight back to us and committed and that speaks volumes.”ó