AFC Bournemouth
Under-18s lead coach Dan Carroll felt his team was rewarded for hard work on the training pitch in their 2-1 victory over Sutton United.
The team left it late to pick up three points at Canford Park Arena with an 87th-minute goal from Jonny Day.
First namesake Jonny Stuttle had given the Cherries a first-half lead in the Merit League One clash, only for Joe Throp to restore parity before the break.
With the win coming following last weekend’s heavy defeat to Plymouth Argyle, Carroll felt the win was a result of work put in during the week.
“The boys had been a bit sore this week because no one likes to lose heavily,” he told afcb.co.uk.
“I thought they showed really good character to work really hard every day on the pitch and in the gym.
“Today, their hard work was rewarded with that late goal.“
Despite being pleased with the three points, the coach felt that ruthlessness was still an area for the team to improve.
Carroll explained: “It was really pleasing that they kept going and they eventually did find a way through.
“Before today, we were the joint-top scorers in the league, so we’ve scored a lot of goals, but I think if we’re honest with ourselves, I think we should have scored a lot more.
“We’ve scored two today but we probably should have scored four or five, so going to the next level is being even more ruthless and taking our chances when they come to us.”
Alongside sealing the win, a real positive for the team was the return of defender Archie Harris, who featured for just shy of half-an-hour before a planned substitution.
Turning out against the Yellows marked Harris’ first competitive minutes in over four months.
“We had a little round of applause for Archie at the end,” Carroll said. “He’s worked so hard, he’s been so professional and it’s been really frustrating for him; four months is a long time out.
“He’s been able to do a certain amount of training for a while now and we’ve been trying to build it up gradually.
“He’s desperate to play so it was amazing for him to get that 25 minutes on the pitch, and I thought he performed very well.
“He played a pass which led to the first goal, too, so it was great to have him back.”
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