ULTRA-critical Wade Elliott helped fire Cherries to their biggest league win for 15 months and then admitted: "We've played better and lost".

Elliott notched either side of half-time as Cherries chalked up a resounding 4-0 triumph over Division Two play-off hopefuls Bristol City at Dean Court on Saturday.

The 22-year-old opened the scoring with a superb 12th-minute strike and added a second after Richard Hughes and Carl Fletcher had both netted stunning first-half efforts to give Cherries a comfortable 3-0 interval lead.

But Elliott, whose last two-goal haul came during his farewell appearance for Bashley against Sittingbourne in January 2000, is convinced Cherries rode their luck against the Robins.

Elliott said: "Although you could say it was a result which was waiting to happen after our recent performances, it was also probably one of our worst first-half displays of the season.

"It might seem a strange thing to say after we went in at the interval 3-0 in front, but I honestly believe we have played much better recently and lost games.

"The game against Bristol Rovers is a prime example because we played really well and made a lot more chances than we did against Bristol City, but lost 2-1.

"Maybe we had a bit of luck against City with the three goals we scored in the first half because they were all 'worldies', but we had more chances against Rovers and only scored once.

"Hopefully it shows we are becoming more ruthless in front of goal and, providing we can keep taking our chances, there is no reason why we can't keep digging out results like this one."

Elliott has now scored nine goals in just 42 appearances for Cherries - including 17 as a substitute - and took his tally for this season to six in only his 19th league and cup start.

His double strike, coupled with Hughes and Carl Fletcher's seventh goals of the season, moved Cherries to 11th place in Division Two, just three points short of Sean O'Driscoll's 50-point safety target.

Cherries boss O'Driscoll said: "The boys got a lot of praise after the defeat at Rotherham in midweek because they played really well, and, although we won 4-0 against City, we probably didn't perform as well.

"I thought we were sloppy from the start and our pre-match preparation was a bit iffy. We had people coming in and out of the dressing room because we had to do a couple of commercial things.

"I know we've got to do things like that, but sometimes it can take you away from your preparation and we are not good enough, either as a team or individually, not to prepare properly.

"The boys knew at half-time they could do a lot better even though we were 3-0 up.

"But for the first time this season, things went for us and that is something we should be grateful for.

"We performed well as a unit without hitting the heights I know we are capable of and our finishing was excellent. We need one more win to hit the 50-point target and then we will be looking to beat 57, the number of points we got last season.

"There will be no danger of easing off if and when we reach 50 points because our aim is to win all of our remaining 11 games and finish as high as possible," added O'Driscoll.

Captain Steve Fletcher will receive a memento from the club before the next home game against Bury on March 24 after making his 300th league appearance for Cherries against City.