BOSS Paul Groves felt Cherries had answered some questions as their Jekyll-and-Hyde July continued with a 3-1 victory at Winchester City on Saturday.
Josh McQuoid’s clinical hat-trick helped Cherries come from behind to see off the Southern League new boys at the Denplan City Ground.
Cherries, surprisingly beaten 2-1 at Poole Town on Friday, again found themselves in arrears after Michael Charles had opened the scoring inside the first 10 minutes.
However, McQuoid netted with a composed finish, a stunning free-kick and a powerful header to ensure there would be no repeat of the Tatnam turn-up.
Groves fielded a strong starting line-up with Dutch striker Frank Demouge handed his belated debut after struggling with the training regime during the first few days of pre-season.
“Looking at the two games, the players stepped up their time on the pitch and we came through injury-free,” said Groves. “The performances were mixed and, at this early stage, that is something we can accept.
“It is important we keep extending the players and we step up against Conference South clubs and then Championship and Premier League opposition. These games will give us a different kind of test.
“There will be times in the season when the pitch might not be suitable to try to play. When that happens, you have to adapt and we did that at Winchester, otherwise we would have brought pressure upon ourselves unnecessarily.
“The players did well to change to a different way of playing. We haven’t had the time to work on that type of situation so it was a good exercise.”
Groves added: “We will be asked questions throughout the pre-season games and we want to see how they react if they go behind. You want to see how they react to a defeat and, sometimes, you can learn more from that with regard to character of individuals. You want those questions to be asked now rather than later on.”
Commenting on McQuoid’s hat-trick, Groves added: “For any player to score a hat-trick in the way in which Josh did – a counter, a free-kick and a header – is always good. It is not just about Josh, it is about the service and support he gets. But he has to produce as an individual and he did.”
Cherries continue their warm-up campaign with a trip to Basingstoke tomorrow before going to Havant & Waterlooville on Wednesday (both 7.45pm).
Cherries: Flahavan, Daniels (Cargill, 64), Cook (Case, 64), Zubar (Strugnell, 64), Francis, McDermott (Moth, 61), Molesley, Partington (Jamal, 61), MacDonald (Makoni, 61), McQuoid (Stockley, 54), Demouge (Fletcher, h-t).