Roach After Faster Start - Joe wants quick-fire start after weekend defeat

Cherries Under 18s went down 1-0 at Swindon last weekend and Manager Joe Roach blamed a poor first half showing for the defeat.

Although his team improved in the second half, Roach is keen for his squad to put things right including prior to the match kicking off.

Cherries entertain Hereford United this Saturday at 11am. The match is at Canford School and Joe is looking for a higher level of motivation from his team.

Joe said, "We had a poor first half on a difficult heavy pitch. We failed to deal with the ball well enough, we gave it away unnecessarily and got frustrated. That became the story of the first half and as a result we gave away a sloppy goal.

"We had a chat at half time and asked them to concentrate on getting the possession and keeping the ball and I felt we played a lot better in the second half. It was a frenetic match and they're always close games against Swindon so I was disappointed that we didn't start well.

"Sometimes the warm up can reflect how the first forty-five minutes will pan out and I thought they didn't look motivated. That's something we'll address for the next game along with using the ball better and being more aware of situations."