AFC Bournemouth

Jermain Defoe, Joshua King and Simon Francis on scoresheet in closed-doors pre-season outing against Amiens.

AFC Bournemouth’s comfortably saw off French Ligue 1 side Amiens SC in their latest pre-season outing.

Played at the club’s training ground behind closed doors, the Cherries were in control for much of the contest.

Despite falling behind early on, goals from Jermain Defoe, Joshua King and Simon Francis wrapped up a comfortable victory, with a number of senior players completing full 45 minutes halves.

Early in the piece Asmir Begovic was forced into a smart reflex save by Juan Ferney Otero following a dangerous Amiens corner.

But that only proved a temporary respite, as the French side took the lead.

Moussa Konate was alert to capitalise on a loose ball following a blocked shot, and calmly side-footed the Ligue 1 side ahead from just inside the area beyond Begovic.

But the Cherries responded in the best possible fashion.

Lys Mousset nicked the ball from the Amiens backline, before a slick and incisive move saw the ball worked out to Fraser, who immediately squared with the alert Defoe converted into a vacant net.

On 14 minutes, Fraser then saw an effort of his own well saved after a clever cross from Mahoney, before Rico, who was lively throughout, stung the palms of Regis Gurtner from all of 30 yards.

On the stroke of half time Rico was again the provider, this time firing a low delivery from the left towards the back post narrowly beyond the outstretched boot of Defoe.

Eddie Howe rang the changes at half time, with a new XI taking to the field for the second period.

And immediately after the restart the Cherries were in front.

Jordon Ibe bundled his way through a couple of Amiens defenders down the right. Following Wilson’s blocked shot, the ball then fell to King, who duly finished from point blank range.

Amiens offered little going forward and following a clever set piece routine soon found themselves trailing by two goals.

Francis was the unlikely scorer from a well-worked free kick, drilling a low effort beyond the goalkeeper following Charlie Daniels’ clever shifted pass.

Much of the second half passed with little incident. Boruc was alert on a couple of occasions to repel speculative efforts from distance, but in truth Steve Cook and Nathan Ake were comfortable and composed throughout.

It’s Rico time

Energetic, neat interplay and an attacking threat – Rico’s first 45 minutes in an AFC Bournemouth shirt were extremely positive.

In his first match action of pre-season, the Spaniard formed an exciting combination with Fraser down the left side. As Fraser cut infield, Rico’s overlapping runs caused confusion for the Amiens defenders.

An eye for goal was also evident, with Rico letting rip with a swirling drive that forced the Amiens goalkeeper into a smart save.

All in all, an encouraging first appearance in red and black.

Two in two (pre-seasons)

Whilst Howe would have been encouraged to have seen Defoe and King add to their pre-season tallies, a surprise scorer came in the shape of Francis.

After netting in last season’s warm-up game against Napoli, the club captain rattled home an impressive free kick, meaning the Cherries have now had seven different goalscorers in their five pre-season games so far.

Francis’ last competitive goal came way back in September 2014, in a 2-0 home win against Wigan Athletic.