INTERIM head coach Gary O’Neil hailed his players for their “heart and determination” as they cruised past Everton 3-0 in their final game before the World Cup break.

Cherries completed a brilliant week at Vitality Stadium with their second heavy win over the Toffees, having also progressed past them 4-1 in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.

O’Neil’s men move up to 13th in the Premier League table with this victory, which takes the interim boss’s tally to 13 points from his 11 top-flight matches in charge.

Cherries came into the clash with Everton on the back of four league defeats on the spin, including throwing away two-goal leads to lose to Tottenham and Leeds.

Asked if this was Cherries’ best performance in O’Neil’s tenure, he replied: “We managed to maintain it for the 95 minutes, or whatever was required.

“It looked similar to Spurs and Leeds, but they only lasted 60 minutes.

“So, pleased that we did a lot of work this week on how you see out a game of football when you’re in front, what it takes.

“I saw huge improvements, as we did on Tuesday, with obviously a different team, but it’s good to take the lead twice in the last two games and see them out so comfortably, it’s nice when you’ve worked so hard on something and it’s rewarded.”

Asked if that performance from Cherries was a goodbye present from the players: “I won’t be commenting on the goodbye stuff, but I think they’ve given me that in every game to be honest.

“I don’t think today was any different. We were very, very good with the ball, good without the ball, well organised. The lads showed heart and determination. We spoke before the game about getting to 16 points by the break and it being massive for everybody involved.

“The lads deserve 16 points at least for what they’ve put in in my spell, I think they’ve been incredible.”