Jason Tindall hailed “the new Dominic Solanke” as Bournemouth thumped Huddersfield 5-0 to retain their grip on second place in the Championship table.
Solanke’s early double set the Cherries on course for an emphatic win in front of 1200 returning fans at the Vitality Stadium.
The former Liverpool striker struggled to justify his £19m price tag as Bournemouth were relegated from the Premier League last season but now has eight goals this term.
Manager Tindall said: “Dom is playing with confidence. He is feeling my love and the team’s love.
“It was nice the fans were here to see the new Dom Solanke. What he gives the team is incredible and the icing on the cake is always the goals.
“It makes a big difference having fans back. We have certainly missed them and it was great to have some kind of atmosphere back in the stadium.
“Football is nothing without fans and they mean a lot to me and to the football club. We dedicate the win to them.
“We wanted to get off to a good start and get the fans behind us from the first minute and we certainly did that.
“I have been really pleased with the way we have played in the last few weeks.
“We built on those performances and delivered an excellent all-round performance.
“Our attacking play and the way we moved the ball around was excellent and we scored five quality goals.”
Bournemouth found themselves 3-0 up inside 21 minutes courtesy of Solanke’s brace and a superb David Brooks goal.
Solanke opened the scoring with a delicate chip in the eighth minute before side-footing home his and the Cherries’ second just five minutes later.
Brooks guided a left-foot shot into the corner from 20 yards out to add the third after being teed up by Solanke.
It was all over in the 67th minute when Junior Stanislas rounded off a fine solo run with a cool finish.
Substitute Sam Surridge completed the rout three minutes later after Dan Gosling had selflessly squared the ball into his path when he could have netted himself.
Juninho Bacuna’s fierce first-half drive clawed away by Asmir Begovic was as close as Huddersfield came to scoring on a miserable afternoon for the Terriers.
Manager Carlos Corberan was forced to defend his decision to make six changes for the trip to the south coast.
Corberan said: “Sometimes we need to manage the squad and manage how many consecutive games the players can play to avoid injuries.
“We made the decision to go with certain players and we should have been more competitive.
“I know how difficult it is for our fans. It is painful for me too. We came here with expectations to get a positive result.
“What we need to do now is analyse the game well.
“The team did not start well but at the same time we made some mistakes that we need to avoid.
“We need to know when is the moment to play and when is the moment to keep the ball.
“In my opinion we gave away two very bad goals right at the start. We have to be better to be part of this league.”
