AFC Bournemouth's under-21s ran out 4-0 winners away at Poole Town on Saturday. 

A brace from former Dolphins loanee, Jake Scrimshaw, helped the Cherries to victory, as well as strikes from Nathan Moriah-Welsh and Brooklyn Genesini. 

It was the second friendly in a week which saw Shaun Cooper's side play against a men's outfit, having been narrowly defeated 1-0 to a strong Portsmouth outfit. 

After the game at the Black and Gold Stadium, he spoke with afcb.co.uk. 

"I thought the game was a really good challenge for the lads," he began. 

"Poole are good at what they do and the game got quite physical at times. It was quite feisty, there were some strong challenges going in and our lads stood up to that really well.

"If anything, they came out on top and they gave as good as they got. We didn't allow any of that to fluster them.

"I thought they were composed and carried on doing the right things. Eventually, they wore them down and we were too good for them." 

The former defender continued to speak of the progression his players have had, with several training and playing in Scott Parker's first team setup throughout pre-season. 

"I think throughout the whole pre season, whenever i've been lucky enough to have players back with me, you can really see how vibrant they are and how much they're loving their football.

"They're so confident tactically in what they're doing with the first team and it's always a pleasure having them back.

"Welshy [Nathan Moriah-Welsh] in particular hasn't had many minutes in pre-season and as the game went on he looked like he was enjoying it more and more. 

"In terms of the clean sheet, just looking at Zeno [Ibsen Rossi], I didn't see him at all last year as he was on loan to Kilmarnock. Now I see now a composed, level-headed man at the back for us.

"Brennan Camp as well, he was on loan at Weymouth so it's great for Owen Bevan to play with them at the back and just pick up all the good habits they've got.

"I thought they were really solid and handled the threat that Poole brought - on the ball, they were really calm and composed too. They were disciplined and gave us a real platform to build on." 

Cooper concluded by discussing the impact of playing against a first team and how his side are never shy of any challenge that comes their way.  

He continued: "I think they always rise to it. 

"I think sometimes, depending on the personnel in the team, sometimes we've got enough physicality to match the opposition, as we did at Poole. Other times we're just naturally slightly weaker physically.

"I don't think anyone is ever afraid of the challenge or the tempo of playing against a men's team, it's just whether they're at that stage physically so they can compete because they always give their all.

"They've done well against the mens teams they've come up against so far."