PERFECT TIMING

Cherries fans and players raise Brooks’ spirits as he begins cancer treatment

DAVID BROOKS returned to the Vitality Stadium 24 hours after his first chemotherapy session.

The Bournemouth winger was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin Lymphoma earlier this month.

Brooks started his treatment on Friday before watching his Cherries team-mates cruise past Huddersfield.

Both sides had warmed up in T-shirts bearing messages of support for the Wales international, before a hairraising minute of chanting for Brooks was followed almost immediately by Dominic Solanke winning a penalty – which he converted.

“It was perfect timing,” fullback Jack Stacey said. “Brooksy has just put in the group chat that he was here watching, so it was lovely to put on a performance for him. He was sat with a couple of the lads who weren’t in the squad.

“It must have been nice for him to see the fans’ support and then for us to score straight after was pretty touching.

“He is going through, and will continue to go through, a very tough time, so the show of support from the fans is only going to help.”

Solanke added a second, his 11th goal of the season, before the break and then captain Lloyd Kelly thumped in a clincher in the second half (bottom and celebrating, above).

The Cherries are still unbeaten after 14 matches, with this victory equalling a 60-year club record for their best start to a season.

“It shows we are on the right path, and we are happy inside the changing room and celebrating the win,” Stacey (battling Fraizer Campbell, below) said. “But it is only 14 games. After the recent games, the meetings have been pointing out how good we’ve been but also where we can improve.

“We are still learning what the manager wants and you can see us improving game on game.”

Huddersfield were sixth ahead of the match, but have now conceded eight out of 17 goals in games against promotion favourites Bournemouth and Fulham. Defender Tom Lees said: “There’s not many teams as good as Bournemouth in the league. They’ve gone on this run for a reason.

“We need to take it on the chin. We’ve had praise in the last few weeks, and now we must accept that we’ll probably get some criticism.

“We need to realise where we need to get to, to be one of the best teams in the division. We just weren’t good enough in both boxes.”