Quite what last night's friendly at the succinctly-named Fitness First Stadium at Dean Court achieved, is difficult to fathom.

As a fund-raising exercise for the cash-strapped Cherries, it is doubtful the Division 2 and soon-to-be Division 3 club will have raised a lot of money from the 2,790-strong gate.

Given the choice between a meaningless end of season friendly and Bayer Leverkusen versus Manchester United on the box, there was only going to be one winner among the supporters.

As a match, this was a pedestrian affair, with little hanging on the result. Nor did it act much as a guide to form.

All the game possibly achieved was as a flag-waving exercise for Saints, who paraded their Premiership stars - even those who were not playing, such as Matthew Le Tissier and Marian Pahars, hung around to sign autographs - as a show of solidarity with their south coast neighbours.

"I would have preferred if this had been pre-season game than a post-season game," admitted Cherries' boss, Sean O'Driscoll afterwards.

"But it gave us an opportunity to look at a couple of boys on trial in a competitive game."

Saints striker, Brett Ormerod, who ironically began his 2001/2002 campaign playing for Blackpool in their 1-0 win at Dean Court last August, enjoyed the experience.

"It was a good game, and it is nice to win whatever it is," he said.

"It is a big step for Division 2 players to come up against internationals, but Bournemouth have got some good players, who like to pass the ball, and I thought it was a good game of football."

Saints started with a strong team, playing 3-5-2, and skipper for the night, Claus Lundekvam had a header from a corner move cleared off the Cherries' line by Narada Barnad inside the first minute.

Four minutes later, Ormerod burst through, skipped past goalkeeper Gareth Stewart, turned inside and flashed his shot across the face of the goal.

The Saints forward then pulled the ball back for Rory Delap on the quarter hour, whose goalbound shot was blocked on the line by Michael Trought, a defender on trial from Bristol Rovers.

Jo Tessem skipped through the Cherries' defence after 24 minutes to chip the ball just wide, and Ormerod mis-directed a Fabrice Fernandes cross eight yards out.

Bournemouth offered little in attack, although the lively Danny Thomas saw his ambitious chip just clear Neil Mosss's crossbar after 17 minutes.

Both teams attempted to play passing football, but there seemed to be little end product.

Bournemouth, in particular, didn't get a shot in on goal until midway through the second half.

The deadlock was finally broken 96 seconds in the second half, just as the stadium announcer was reeling off a string of team changes.

Fernandes hovered on the edge of the Cherries' penalty area, saw Stewart was hovering off his line, and found the back of the net with a delightful 30-yard lob.

The substitutions followed in the second half to disrupt the pattern of the game - Saints made nine, with only Fernandes and Tahar El Khalej lasting the full 90 minutes, while O'Driscoll made 10 substitutions, with a couple of players coming on twice.

One of those substitutions was Chukki Eribenne.

He has not scored for two seasons, but he almost brought the house down with a sharp header after 62 minutes which brought a neat save from former Bournemouth keeper Moss.

Australian Scott McDonald came on to replace Ormerod for the final 23 minutes, and he had two useful shots on goal which were both saved by Stewart.

The final whistle from Totton referee, Darren Spicer, was a blessing in all honesty.

For Bournemouth, they have one more game of their season left - a testimonial for BAT pair Lee Hodder and Richard Hurst on Friday.

For Saints, the end of the season beckons.

FA Cup weekend will give them a rest ahead of their final FA Premiership clash with Newcastle United at the Friends Provident St Mary's Stadium on May 11.

Roll on the summer!