Alan Connell felt there were positives to take for the development squad despite his side’s 3-0 defeat away to Barnsley.

The team travelled to Yorkshire for their third U21 Professional Development League outing of the campaign, playing at Oakwell Stadium.

The trip followed back-to-back victories for the academy side but the latest outing provided the sternest test of the bunch.

Connell told afcb.co.uk: “We knew that coming up to Barnsley was going to be a tough game, and that’s exactly what we got.

“They were a physical side that were very direct into their front players, so that gave our defenders plenty of problems early on.

“Overall, I thought we dealt with their threats quite well but just as we were growing into the game, they scored from a wide free-kick.

“That was disappointing but the response from the players was excellent.”

With Barnsley taking the lead around the 15-minute mark, the Cherries grew into the game from there and were able to assert spells of dominance.

Jack Wadham saw a good effort well saved by the Tykes stopper before the home side made it 2-0 with an impressive free-kick and sealed the three points late on with a goal on the counter.

“Full credit to our players because we kept going, kept wanting the ball and kept trying to do the things that were being asked of them,” the manager explained.

“Overall, it was a great experience to play at Oakwell and one that our players will benefit from.”

The development squad had suffered an early setback, too, losing Daniel Adu-Adjei to a head injury in the opening ten minutes.

With that resulting in a reshuffle of the pack, Connell was also pleased with his team’s ability to adapt.

He said: “Losing Daniel very early in the game altered the way we played slightly because he’s such a big part of what we do.

“I was pleased to see the players adapt to that, but ultimately, we’re disappointed to lose the game, although there were lots of positives to come out of the day.”