GARETH Stewart faces an anxious wait to discover whether his injury jinx has struck again after he dislocated his finger during Cherries' friendly against Weymouth yesterday (October 12).

The luckless goalkeeper damaged the ring finger on his left hand when he fell awkwardly after he had punched clear under pressure from Terras striker Martin Underhay five minutes from time.

Stewart had an emergency consultation with specialist David O'Connor at the Harbour Hospital in Poole last night and was due to have an X-ray to ascertain whether he had suffered a fracture.

There was better news for Steve Purches and Steve Fletcher who both continued their respective comebacks against the Terras and came through unscathed after turning in assured displays.

Purches, who has been restricted to one brief substitute appearance this season due to an ankle problem, was pencilled in to play for 30 minutes but stayed on until half-time.

He told the Daily Echo: "They asked me if I felt okay after 30 minutes and it felt fine so I carried on for a bit longer.

"Hopefully it will be okay tomorrow and I will be able to train on Thursday. Obviously it will stiffen up so I will have to keep it loose.

"I've got to see how the next couple of days go although Saturday could be pushing it. But I've trained a couple of times and got these 45 minutes under my belt so that's pleasing for me.

"It's good to be back. I've had enough of treatment rooms so it was good to be back on the pitch and mixing with all the lads."

Fletcher, who has made two substitute appearances since returning to the first-team squad following his ongoing knee injury, came through 60 minutes, his longest run-out for around six months.

He told the Daily Echo: "I didn't expect more than an hour. I came back for the Blackpool game probably earlier than I would have anticipated so this is more on track with what I was told by the specialist.

"It was good to get some match practice under my belt. It's been about six months since the last time I played more than an hour and I've come through everything alright. I will have a couple of days of rest, train on Friday and hopefully be involved on Saturday."

Portuguese winger Diogo Andrade, who was being watched by Dorchester, netted the only goal of the game 17 minutes from time with a low right-foot drive into the bottom corner of the net.

Cherries striker James Hayter is expected to line up against Port Vale wearing a splint on his right hand after breaking a bone between his wrist and little finger. Hayter trained yesterday and should be fit to face the Valiants.

Meanwhile, Cherries coach Richard O'Kelly has been linked with a post at his ex-club Walsall.

However, O'Kelly has told the Daily Echo that the speculation, which appeared in a Midlands-based newspaper, "came out of the blue" and that he "didn't know anything about it".

Cherries: Stewart (Scriven, 85), Sutton, Purches (Hubbard, h-t), Cannon (Cleverley, h-t), Andrade, Rowe (Burden, 67), Coutts, Briggs, Holmes, Connell, Fletcher (Pitman, 60).