AFC Bournemouth
Under-18s lead coach Dan Carroll felt his side must learn from individual errors following a 7-1 defeat away to Plymouth Argyle.
In their latest Merit League One encounter, the young Cherries side was met by a stern Pilgrims test in Devon.
A bright first half for Carroll’s away team resulted in an unfortunate 3-1 deficit going into the half-time break, before Argyle asserted their dominance in the second period.
Despite a young-look Cherries team and the home side bolstered by a host of second-year scholars, the lead coach was keen to focus on learning points rather than excuses.
He told afcb.co.uk: “They did have more second years than us because we only had Kian Tydeman but they weren’t all second years and they had a couple of younger players as well.
“I don’t think we should be using age as an excuse.
“I think the boys have to watch the game back and understand where we could have been better but ultimately, a lot of those goals came down to individual errors.
“It’s about eradicating that from our game because if you do that, we managed to carve them open at times, so might have scored five or six ourselves.”
With a week ahead of the team now before taking on Sutton United in Merit League One, Carroll is keen to see a reaction from his side.
“We’ll look at different areas of the game in and out of possession during the week before the game against Sutton to try and put things right,” Carroll explained.
“That’s the beauty of development football that you can try and put it right in the next game, it’s not the same as the first team.
“Equally, as much as the three points are not necessarily the most important thing in the game, the boys need to understand that they’ve got to learn how to win games.
“You’ve also got to learn that you can’t allow teams to get that far on top of you.
“It can be an important learning experience for them if they’re very honest with themselves and they resolve to be a little bit better in certain areas in the future.”
Despite the result, the coach reserved a word of praise for both winger Remy Rees-Dottin and striker Kashanga Kasukumya.
Rees-Dottin netted the side’s only goal while under-16 Kasukumya played his first minutes for the higher age category.
Carroll concluded: “I thought Remy was excellent today, both in and out of possession. He was really strong and one of the stand-out players on the pitch.
“In a game when you lose 7-1 and you’re playing as a winger, I think that’s no mean feat. I was very impressed with him.
“Also, it was nice to see Kashanga get a go from the under-16s; that was a great experience for him.”
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