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Development Squad

Cooper on key lessons after Farnborough loss

Shaun Cooper spoke with afcb.co.uk about Wednesday's 1-0 defeat to Farnborough in the Hampshire Senior Cup. 

Paul Hodges got the only goal of the game in the second half as the hosts progressed to the quarter-finals of the competition. 

The Cherries, who are the holders, will be looking to get back to winning ways against Arsenal in the Premier League Cup later this month, the game taking place at Boreham Wood. 

After the defeat to Farnborough, Cooper touched upon the following topics: 

The result

We're obviously disappointed to be out of the competition. While I didn't think we were at our best, we were still able to create quite a few good chances. We could've scored at least three goals.

They scored one and could've had another, so we were a bit unfortunate overall. Relative to our own standards, we weren't quite at it, we didn't quite execute the basics to the level we expect, so we're disappointed in that sense. 

Playing senior opposition 

We spoke about playing against a men's team before the game. The last game was against an under-23 side in West Brom at Vitality Stadium, it was a nice surface and we were able to pick them off. I thought we were excellent that night.

Today was slightly different, it was a bit more direct, a bit more physical like we knew they would be. A lot of our boys dealt with it well. There were loads of lessons and little things that are great experiences for the lads. 

Upcoming fixtures 

It's always good for us to get games. We have a couple coming up which will be great. We're really looking forward to those challenges in the Premier League Cup and it's always nice to play at Vitality Stadium when the opportunity presents itself. We'll have a few good weeks of training and look forward to being back out there.