CHERRIES boss Steve Cuss was delighted with his side’s performance as they emphatically beat league leaders Swindon Town to close the gap on the Robins.

AFC Bournemouth beat Swindon 4-0 at the Vitality Stadium to bring the gap down to just one point – but with two games in hand for the Cherries in the National League Division One South West.

Cuss spoke to the Daily Echo after the game, saying he was really pleased with the performance.

“I think the performance brought the result,” he said. “Delighted with the way we started the game, creating opportunities. Took a little bit of a while just to be that clinical in front of goal.

“But once we got the two goals it gave us a really good platform to go and play and I thought we were outstanding second half, didn't really give them a chance on goal and continued to look a real threat and get a couple of extra goals as well.

“Been a good day for us.”

(Image: Richard Crease) It took the Cherries 35 minutes to open the scoring, missing a number of good chances beforehand.

Cuss said, with the calibre of the opposition, that there was a feeling that they may come to rue the missed chances, although this did not come to pass.

“I thought the determination of the players was outstanding,” he said.

“They kept on going, kept on believing in what we were trying to do in the areas we were trying to play and we were a threat all game and we looked like we could score goals and obviously the four goals really important.

“But really pleased that we didn't lose our patience and just carried on going.”

(Image: Richard Crease) Bournemouth came out firing in the second period, too.

“2-0 was always an awkward little score line,” Cuss said. “We said at half time, look, we probably should have been a little bit more than 2-0 in front, can we be that bit more clinical in front of goal and go and get that third goal?

“I thought we'd got it in the first minute, it was disallowed but we kept on going and the third goal was an outstanding bit of passing and I could see Molly running into the box and when it fell to her there, it was a clinical finish.

“That really give us the platform then to go on and see the game out then.”

Top scorer in the league so far this season, Erin Bloomfield, was a surprise omission from the starting 11, although she did come on in the second half and cooly converted a spot kick to seal the win.

(Image: Richard Crease) Cuss said the decision to put her on the bench was a tactical choice.

“We wanted to play in a slightly different way,” he explained.

“We looked at how we were going to set up against Swindon and it did involve playing just somebody a little bit deeper just to get into the pockets.

“That was a really tough decision because Erin's been outstanding for us in the last few weeks. I think she’s got 11 goals in the last five games and has been a real threat.

“I was really pleased when the opportunity to come on and get that goal came because she deserved it, that was a tough one to take for her personally, but dealt with it very well and got her moment which is pleasing to see.”

Cuss was also pleased with the defensive resilience of his side, keeping a clean sheet over what had been a free-scoring Swindon.

“There was a big decision to be made about the way we line up defensively and we looked at a few areas that we probably think that we could nullify them in and I thought we did that really well,” he said.

“I thought the three central defenders were outstanding in their positional play, but in their one to one defending as well and with Erin [Foley] behind it as well, who was dealing with crosses and dealing with balls over the top in a really positive way as well.

“The four of them defended well with the rest of them in front of them, really working hard to protect them.”