Alan Connell
Alan Connell believes he received “everything we asked” from his young charges as they were knocked out of the Premier League Cup by QPR, losing 3-1.
Cherries’ development squad travelled to Hanwell Town to face the Hoops knowing that victory was required to advance into the knockouts from the group stage.
Kian Tydeman’s second-half strike was scant consolation following three QPR goals from Hamzad Kargbo, Joesph Ajose and Elijah Dixon-Bonner.
Reflecting on the encounter,
Alan Connell said: “I was disappointed to lose but what we saw from the players was everything we asked – a desire, a spirit and a togetherness along with some really good moments in the game. We had six under-18s starting against a strong, probably more experienced and physically capable QPR side and I was really proud of our performance. I thought we started well in the first half and had two big moments. We could have gone 1-0 up but didn’t take those chances and got done with their first effort on goal. But we stayed in the game for the rest of the half and had another decent opportunity and could have equalised before half-time. The message at the break was to try to make sure the players believed as much as the staff because we were really pleased with the first-half performance. We tried to be even more front foot, which suited the attacking players we had on the pitch. We had no recognised centre-halves available to us across the age groups so the challenge for us as staff was to get as many attacking players on the pitch in a balanced way. Conceding the second goal so early in the second half quickly followed by the third was a decisive blow but the response from everyone was admirable. We knew we had to win to progress and I thought the attitude to keep going was outstanding along with some real moments of quality. As the game wore on, we started to get in their final third more and caused them more problems. That was helped by the impact of the substitutions and I thought they all had a positive impact on the game. It was a great experience for Ollie Morgan, at 16, to come on and perform how he did and I was delighted for Kian to carry on his recent good form with a really well-taken goal. Overall, I was disappointed to lose but my main feeling is pride in what is I feel is going to be a great night for their development.”
