Alan Connell’s development squad was beaten 5-3 by Charlton Athletic in their latest pre-season friendly.

Despite coming on the wrong end of the scoreline in the warm-up game, a hat-trick from striker Daniel Adu-Adjei offered as a major positive for the team.

At this stage of preparations, too, Connell felt there were further highlights to boost his side’s learning.

He said: “There were lessons to learn in the game, of course, there always is, but I was quite pleased with our overall performance despite knowing there’s room for improvement.

“Also, there were some real individual highlights in the game with Daniel scoring a hat-trick, that was a big boost for everyone.

“It was a high-quality game and a really worthwhile fixture for us.”

The Cherries’ hosts were fast out of the traps at the Addicks’ London headquarters and raced into a two-goal lead.

Adu-Adjei was then next to strike, netting a neat shot on the turn following some nice combination play, but Charlton were able to grab their third and fourth before half-time.

Bournemouth’s livewire frontman struck twice in the second period, first from the spot after Ash Clarke was fouled in the box before later completing his hat-trick.

Any hopes of a leveller were undone late on though, as a late Charlton goal sealed victory for the home side.

“Technically, we improved on recent performances and created a good number of chances; we looked a real threat going forward,” Connell told afcb.co.uk.

“We had a nice mixture to our game and on the flip side, we pressed high and aggressive, that pushed the boys physically.

“Three of the goals were individual errors and against quality players, you’re going to get punished, and we were.”

Now being three fixtures into the pre-season schedule, the development squad manager went on to praise the efforts of his team in preparation for the season.

“Physically, the boys gave everything to the performance, but we’ve got a few injuries at the moment,” Connell explained.

“We had to push a few of them for 90 minutes for the first time in pre-season.

“The effort they gave was exactly what’s required and it’s a credit to them for the shape they’re in at the moment.”

AFC Bournemouth: Plain, Morgan, Boutin, Wadham, Kinsey-Wellings, Harris, Johnson, Williams, Adu-Adjei, Landa, Rees-Dottin. 

Subs: Trialist, Seeley, Clarke, Osborne, Eagle.