U18s too strong for Exiles
AFC Bournemouth
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Two goals either side of half time gave AFC Bournemouth under-18s a commanding 4-0 win away at Newport County on Saturday.
After the Exiles tested the Cherries early on the visitors began to push forwards and scored through Harvey Bertrand and Jack Wadham to go in at the break with a two-goal cushion.
Things improved even further after the break, with late strikes from Khavarn Williams and Luke Pardoe adding a deserved gloss to the scoreline in south Wales.
After the win - which moves the Cherries joint top of the EFL Youth Alliance table, alongside rivals Oxford United who they face next weekend - manager Alan Connell shared his positive thoughts with afcb.co.uk.
"Newport started quite brightly but I thought we stood up to anything they threw at us," he said. "Then we controlled the game, passed the ball well. We didn't create loads of chances but we got in good areas.
"As the half wore on we started to create more opportunities and Harvey scored from a free-kick and then that was quickly followed up by Jack Wadham scoring from a Ben Greenwood cross.
"We went in at half time 2-0 up and were really pleased. Newport had made a good start but the boys absorbed that and kept them moving side to side to get control of the game.
"In the second half we were in full control and created more chances, doing more in the final third, though we were a little wasteful with our final pass.
"We defended really well when we had to but overall we limited Newport to not many chances, which was pleasing. The backline was nice and solid and that gave us that platform to play forwards.
"We then scored two more goals late on from Khavarn and Luke, it was a really pleasing and mature display."