Rovers and out

Sean O'Driscoll's side turned on the style with an electrifying four-goal burst that killed the game in the first 25 minutes and capped a marvellous seven days with a fifth after the break for a third straight win.

On a day when there was little room for improvement from the Dean Court outfit, Dani Rodrigues also bagged a fine first goal for the club with the third-minute opener.

Wade Elliott was definitely in the mood and his trickery was the catalyst for the first two goals that set the agenda for the rest of the afternoon.

The former Bashley man is perhaps in the form of his life right now and after some excellent moments at Hillsborough last weekend, Elliott's old-fashioned wide play of running at the opposition and firing in teasing crosses was a constant thorn for the disorganised Rovers defence.

It was Elliott's pacy cross with his first foray of the game that picked out Rodrigues' clever run across the defender and registered the first goal while many of the fans were probably still sat in the eight-mile traffic jam on the A338 into Bournemouth. Rather like the road workers supposedly working on essential maintenance, Rovers' defence were nowhere to be seen as the Portuguese striker glanced home a perfect header into the far corner to set the ball rolling.

If Sean O'Driscoll was wary of a slow start from his men after their Ewood Park exertions, he needn't have worried as James Hayter doubled the lead with the first of his two goals just a couple of minutes later.

Again, it was Elliott at the heart of the move as he skipped brilliantly inside two defenders to whip over another inviting ball that was just screaming for a striker to get on the end of it.

Hayter needed no second invitation and flung himself headlong to power the header past the hapless Doncaster goalkeeper for his sixth goal of the season.

Cherries' dream start got even better as midweek penalty hero Eddie Howe bagged number three, poking home Brian Stock's corner through a forest of Rovers defenders.

While Howe was clearly delighted with another goal as it crept home at the far post, it was the move seconds before to win the corner which created the opportunity as Elliott and Hayter combined with a superb long-range one-two.

That freed Hayter to outpace the defence only for Andy Warrington to make a smart save with his feet to turn the effort past the post.

Meanwhile, Doncaster left-back Nicolas Priet was not enjoying a pleasant afternoon on the South Coast.

Given the run-around from Elliott, he also took a whack on the ankle from the winger in the first 20 seconds of the contest and eventually fell to the turf like a doddery aunt who'd had too much Christmas sherry.

Even the unfortunate defender's throw-in technique deserted him on one occasion as the slippery ball dribbled embarassingly out of his grasp to cue much derision from the home fans.

When he finally succumbed to his injury after just 22 minutes, it could also have been to save him from further humiliation from Elliott's teasing wing play.

In fact the only factor missing from Elliott's fine first-half display was a deserved goal although he did come close as he cut in on his left foot to fire over after he latched on to Warren Cummings' deep cross from the left flank.

Cummings was in the thick of the action again moments later as he turned provider for Garreth O'Connor to strike his second goal of the season three days after his first at Blackburn.

John Spicer - who looks more at home in the Cherries midfield with every appearance - sped out of defence from Neil Moss' throw-out to release the Scotsman. He, in turn, picked out the classy O'Connor who used his strength to turn his marker and steer home the fourth via the upright.

Just 25 minutes in and the contest was effectively over and both teams knew it.

Rovers, who had managed only a couple of half-hearted attempts at Moss' goal in the first period, were shell-shocked and did what many sides in their position would do. Faced with the occasional flash of showboating, their tackling became more fraught and the five yellow cards they received were about par for the course.

Indeed, the referee Tony Bates deserves some credit for his common-sense and handling of the match as he made allowance for the occasional frustration from the visiting side and kept his cards in his pocket for as long as he could.

Rovers managed their only real threat in first-half injury time as Guy Ipoua's header had Moss beaten but the crossbar came to his aid and the ball pinged to safety.

As with many games of this nature, after a one-sided first half, the second carried less flat-out excitement. Fickle Cherries fans may complain but surely a first 45 minutes of such quality should further improve the attendance for the next home fixture on October 8.

In truth, O'Driscoll's side had simply finished their day's work early and needed only to keep things tight to take the points.

Rodrigues nearly doubled his haul with a deft chip early in the half which Warrington palmed over but the Cherries defending remained as resolute as ever. Karl Broadhurst, who was excellent at right-back, Howe and Shaun Maher made a host of their usual brave last-ditch blocks even when they could have been forgiven for allowing a consolation.

Just beyond the mid-point in the second half, Hayter wrapped things up as another brisk Cherries move carved open the Rovers defence once more.

Howe won possession in midfield to release Spicer down the right and his low cross was flashed home with the minimum of fuss by the striker for his seventh of the season.

O'Driscoll took the opportunity to give Maher, Hayter and Rodrigues an early breather and Marcus Browning, Derek Holmes and Alan Connell were introduced.

Holmes combined well with Cummings in Cherries' last meaningful effort at goal as another clever one-two saw the defender take a swipe with his usually-redundant right foot to curl a shot narrowly over.

His grin as he trotted back told the story of the day. Presumably a team-mate had made some remark along the lines of: "If Wally nearly scores with his right foot, we know we've had a good day."