Strong Southampton side victorious in friendly game at Canford Arena.

AFC Bournemouth Under-18s lost 3-0 at home to Southampton Under-18s on Tuesday.

The Cherries stayed in the match until half-time, keeping the score at 1-0 ahead of the break, before a physical Saints outfit put the game to bed in the second half.

Under-18s manager Alan Connell reported back with afcb.co.uk after the match.

“We came up against a very strong Southampton side today,” he said. “That meant we had to be almost perfect on the ball, as they had the advantage going into any sort of physical challenge on the day.

“We were okay in spells but lacked a bit of intensity in our passing. We weren’t in the final third, troubling their goalkeeper as much as I would have liked.

“We brought six of our under-16s on in the second half and they acquitted themselves well so it was a good opportunity to watch them play with decisions on them being made at Christmas for next year.

“Obviously, we don’t like to lose games of football, but in games like these we can learn things from high quality opposition so it was worthwhile and we’ll try to incorporate the under-16s more throughout the season.

“We’ve got a couple already booked in to play in November against West Ham at home and away, so it’s a good opportunity for the youth team players who need minutes.

“All in all, it was a very worthwhile day, but from a football point of view there’s loads of work that we need to do.”

Looking ahead to the U18s' next league fixture away to Plymouth Under-18s on Saturday at 11am, the boss looked back to the Cherries’ previous encounter with the Pilgrims last Tuesday in which Bournemouth came away with a 3-2 victory.

“That cup game last Tuesday will be fresh in both teams' minds. It will be an interesting game again.

“It’s a long trip down to Plymouth on a Saturday morning so mentally we’ve got to be ready for that and try to produce a similar performance to what we put in last Tuesday."

The AFC Bournemouth Under-18 side are sponsored by Strategic Solutions.