AFC Bournemouth under-18s manager Alan Connell was pleased that his side were able to show more than one side of their game in the 4-1 win over Exeter City on Saturday.

An own-goal and further strikes from Euan Pollock, Luke Pardoe and Connor Kurran-Browne secured the emphatic victory away from home.

And manager Connell felt that at times, it was the best performance his side have displayed so far this campaign.

“We scored after two minutes and obviously that’s the perfect start,” Connell explained.

“Once we had the lead we retained the ball really well and for a 30 minute spell, that’s as good as we’ve been this season.

“I’m really pleased that the boys delivered what we asked of them, we then went 2-0 up and missed a penalty which could have killed the game.

“We conceded on the stroke of half-time, a very avoidable goal but we knew that Exeter would come out at us after the break so we tweaked some things at half-time.

“So we had to defend particularly at the start of the second half so that was another side of the game the boys had to show, they were patient in their defending and dealt with their threats very well.

“When we did win the ball back we were composed, kept playing under pressure and broke on them well. As a result we scored two nice goals which was the least we deserved.

“So it’s a really good display against a very strong side, we kept the ball well under pressure, looked creative in the final third and made good decisions defensively.

“It was an all-round good performance, one that we’re really pleased with.”

The next outing for the under-18s is a friendly against Leicester City at Canford Park Arena with a 1pm kick-off, before another home game against Cheltenham on Saturday 14th September.