Two days after entertaining the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil and Kaka at the Goldsands Stadium, AFC Bournemouth were back to reality last week against League Two Portsmouth. Real Madrid's visit to the south coast made a massive statement across footballing circles of the Cherries' current progress and the celebratory exhibition match couldn't have gone smoother for the whole club - except for some improvement to the 6-0 thrashing they suffered on the pitch - but who could blame them for that? However, there were no complaints about the result in this game as Bournemouth comfortably beat Portsmouth in front of a somewhat quieter crowd than saw Sami Khedira, Pepe and Gonzalo Higuain last Sunday night. Portsmouth, having recently turned a massive leaf in their history as the fans took complete ownership of the club, fielded a very different side to the one that started in this fixture last season. That season finished with both side's moving in opposite directions of the league ladder and the difference in quality was evident tonight. Andy Barcham's goal for Pompey added a small ray of light for Guy Whittingham's side and led to a solid ten minutes of positive play. Tom Craddock enjoyed the best of Portsmouth's chances but couldn't quite direct his efforts past first-half goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan and second-half stopper Shwan Jalal. But throughout it was Bournemouth who dominated and despite the lack of chances in the opening period of the game, they always looked in control. Mohamed Coulibaly bought the game to life after half an hour with a thunderbolt drive from 30 yards. He netted past Phil Smith to score his first goal in red and black for Bournemouth since moving from Grasshopper Zurich just a few weeks ago. Coulibaly was arguably Bournemouth's most exciting player in the first-half, demonstrating skills that wouldn't look out of place alongside some of the Los Blancos stars. Barcham's curling equaliser from the edge of the box led to a nervy period for the home side where Pompey could have gone ahead, but Harry Cornick restored the home side's lead with a low effort that evaded Smith via a slight deflection. AFC Bournemouth continue their pre-season schedule tomorrow at Dorchester Town before hosting Bristol City on Saturday afternoon, where they should be treated to a stern test as they look to evaluate their progress ahead of the visit of Charlton Athletic on the opening day of their Championship season.