AFC Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola gave some valuable match minutes to several members of his squad in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Brentford today.
A strong starting line-up included a front five of Hamed Traorè, Luis Sinisterra, David Brooks, Dango Ouattara and Kieffer Moore as the Cherries ran out 3-1 victors.
Emi Marcondes made a welcome return as a second-half substitute, the midfielder’s first taste of match action since undergoing surgery on a foot injury in June.
Marcondes, who replaced Gavin Kilkenny in the 64th minute, damaged his foot during a loan spell with FC Nordsjælland in Denmark last season.
Iraola also ran the rule over a number of Alan Connell’s development squad with Nathan Moriah-Welsh, Max Kinsey and Ben Greenwood starting and Dan Adu-Adjei and Dom Sadi coming off the bench.
The fixture also gave Brentford an opportunity to give some of their players a run-out with midfielder Mikkel Damsgaard featuring for the first time since August when he suffered a knee injury.
Andrei Radu, who shared the goalkeeping duties with Mark Travers, was powerless to prevent the Bees from drawing first blood through Myles Peart-Harris’s first-half penalty.
Traorè, who netted twice on international duty for Ivory Coast during the break, levelled for the Cherries when he headed home Brooks’s corner in the 58th minute.
Brooks rifled the Cherries in front midway through the second half, the Wales international drilling an unstoppable shot past Bees goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha.
And Moore completed the scoring when he finished off an excellent team move – started by Marcondes – with an emphatic strike in the 67th minute.
Click through the arrows above to see a gallery of pictures from the game.
