Bournemouth manager Jason Tindall hailed Josh King after the striker ended his goal drought with a brace in the Cherries’ 4-1 victory over Oldham.
Norway international King netted his first two strikes for Bournemouth since July – a towering header and a classy low finish – while also setting-up Rodrigo Riquelme.
King has missed much of the season with illnesses and injuries after he failed to secure a transfer away from the Vitality Stadium in the summer.
The former Blackburn star has been linked with a move away from Bournemouth again this month, but Tindall was proud of his performance.
Tindall said: “It was important that Josh played today and got good minutes under his belt especially with the upcoming fixtures that we’ve got.
“He started off a little bit slower but grew into it and in the second half I thought he was a real handful and a real threat.
“He came off the pitch with two good goals and 90 minutes behind him. It was a really good afternoon for Josh King.
“I hope he’ll stay here. I’ve always said that until someone tells me otherwise I am happy to have Josh King available for the football club and team.
“When Kingy showed what he was capable of in the second half it was a positive sign moving forward.”
Oldham had enjoyed the better of the first half with Dylan Bahamboula going close and Ben Garrity smashed against the post.
But Bournemouth took the lead through a pile-driver from Brooks, before Davis Keillor-Dunn was downed by debutant keeper Will Dennis.
Bahamboula stepped up and converted, which led to Tindall changing his system at the interval – following some sharp words for his Championship players.
“We weren’t good enough in the first half, we were well below our standard and well below the expectations we set ourselves,” Tindall said.
“We made a tactical change at half time and we came out and played much better. We controlled the second half and controlled the game – we probably should have scored another couple of goals.”
This tie was originally scheduled to be hosted by Oldham but due to a frozen pitch, which was unlikely to thaw in time, the clash was mutually agreed to be switched to the Vitality Stadium.
But according to Tindall, Oldham manager Harry Kewell was happy at the switch in venues.
“I know Stephen Purches (Bournemouth assistant) was talking to Harry before the match and he was pleased that the game was moved to here. So I don’t think they were too disappointed.
“Because there are no fans in the stadium it doesn’t really matter so much, you don’t really lose out on revenue.
“It something we didn’t expect, it was very unusual. It was made for the right reasons especially if it avoids a backlog of fixtures.
“From our point of view it was nice not to travel and that we had the home fixture.”
Kewell had no complaints with the performance of his players.
“It was a scrappy second goal and then we lost our complacency in a period of about 10 or 15 minutes. I think then that’s where they got us,” he said.
“Other than that I can’t fault my players. I thought in the first half I was quite surprised that we weren’t leading.
“I didn’t think they caused us any problems and we had enough chances to take the lead.
“Credit to them, they stuck into the game and the quality that they have in their team prevailed in the end.”
