CLUB captain Simon Francis could not hide his delight at returning to action for the first time in almost nine months, not least to keep son Jude happy.

Francis, 34, had been absent since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley on Boxing Day.

But he made his comeback last night, captaining a Cherries side which thrashed Basingstoke Town 8-0 in the Hampshire Senior Cup at Vitality Stadium.

Francis began in the centre of defence before switching to right-back and lasted 62 minutes before being substituted as planned.

And with his family and some first-team stars including Lewis Cook, who last week made his own return from long-term injury, watching on from the stands, it was a special night for the Cherries skipper.

Francis told the Daily Echo: “I loved it of course. I’m just delighted.

“It could’ve been an under-23s game, reserve game, friendly game, behind closed doors, it’s just the first game back, to be able to tick it off after a long rehab.

“I’ve been watching Lewis (Cook) in the last couple of weeks, delighted for him. I felt like a big brother watching him on Sunday (against Everton) having been through a long rehab process with him, eight or nine months.

“Now it’s my turn to get that first game out the way and it felt really good.

“It was nice to have a couple of the lads there and my family were there, wife and kids which is always nice.

“My son’s been asking me when I’m going to be playing again. He hasn’t seen me in the kit for a long time, so he’s wondering what’s going on. So he was buzzing to come down.”

He continued: “It’s been a long road. You can always look at that first game back, you tick off a lot of milestones. Whether that’s the first time you can ride a bike, first time you can jog on the pitch, first time you can kick a ball and then you get closer to your first game and it came on Tuesday night and thankfully I came through fine.”

Francis played his part in the success over Basingstoke while Lloyd Kelly also made his return and found the net during the second half.

Gavin Kilkenny stole the show on the pitch with an impressive hat-trick while Jaidon Anthony and Jake Scrimshaw both netted twice.

And having featured alongside some of the club’s developing talent, Francis is now hoping his first-team return is not too far away.

He said: “Hopefully I can get a couple more games under my belt and then be in contention.

“I’ll see how I recover over the next couple of days, which will be no problem I would’ve thought.

“There’s the Burton game next week (Wednesday), which might be an option. I’m not too sure, see how training goes over the next few days and then it’s all about getting more minutes in where I can, whether that’s a couple of friendlies, whatever it is.

“Then when I’m ready, the manager will know. We’ll probably have a chat both of us and see when the time is right and hopefully I can get back involved with the squad and be back there."