AFC Bournemouth
The under-21s turned in a strong performance as they beat QPR 3-1 in a friendly at Canford Arena on Thursday afternoon.
Jake Scrimshaw bagged a brace - with what would have been a third for the striker disallowed with the ball adjudged to have gone out of play in the build up - with Marc Pugh also on the score sheet.
Charlie Daniels also appeared in the game as he continues to build on his match sharpness following long-term injury.
After the final whistle, manager Shaun Cooper gave his thoughts on the hard-fought win for his side to afcb.co.uk.
"I was very pleased overall with the performance, QPR were very good and they pressed us aggressively," he said.
"The times we were able to handle the ball or break that press we caused them real problems. In the first half it took us some time to get to grips with that, retaining the ball beyond two or three passes once we regained possession, and there were a couple of our issues with our pressing system because we played a back three.
"Thankfully, Calum Ward made a couple of really good saves in the first half when the game was in the balance.
"Then at half time I walked in and the experienced players that they are, Pugh and Daniels were already talking the lads through the solution.
"We went with that and the boys applied it really well in the second half and it worked much better.
"On top of that I thought we were just better on the ball. We controlled it better, passed it better and provided better options, we were by far the dominant team in the second half and thoroughly deserved the win.
"We also ended up with a number of under-18s on the pitch and I thought they handled themselves very well and contributed very well to the overall performance."
Scrimshaw's brace came as the forward was richly rewarded for his hard work throughout the fixture
"He's been a goal threat in all the games we've played so far, it just hasn't dropped for him," said Cooper. "I was really pleased for him today, he worked his socks off.
"He was really good out of possession and a good outlet for us, particularly in the second half when we were under pressure trying to play out. He caused them problems all afternoon.
"It was a well-taken penalty for his first, great movement for his second and he was very unfortunate to have his hat-trick goal disallowed because it was a fantastic team move and a shame that it didn't stand."
