AFC Bournemouth
A double from Jonny Day to go with Remy Rees-Dottin’s first-half strike ensured AFC Bournemouth’s under-18s sealed a 3-2 home victory over Coventry City.
James Lowy’s charges came from a goal behind at Canford Park Arena to seal back-to-back wins in the Professional Development League, having beaten Millwall at the same venue earlier this week.
Coventry, who sat ninth in the North division ahead of kick-off, took the lead after 27 minutes.
Mackenzie Stretton’s pass found defender Ben Blakely in the Cherries box, with his strike finding the net via a deflection.
Undeterred, the Cherries found a leveller in first-half stoppage time. Brilliant footwork from centre-back Harold William allowed him to pull the ball back for Rees-Dottin to apply a composed finish.
From there, the hosts pushed on after the interval. Charlie Stevens won the ball high up the pitch and teed up striker Day, who slotted home to put the Cherries in front.
Good work from the Cherries on the press then saw them add a third. After winning the ball back, Karlos Gregory found Kash Kasukumya, who teed up Day to fire in his second of the game.
Coventry pulled a goal back through Stretton late on, but the Cherries held firm in the latter stages to seal all three points.
Manager Lowy told afcb.co.uk: “We like to establish control in possession, which is something we always ask from the group. We just struggled to get that in the first half.
“The boys are realising the step up in football. The demands and intensity of games coming thick and fast, which is a great stretch for them because they’ve got to learn to rest, recover and be ready to go again.
“We spoke at half-time we needed to see a bit more energy, a bit more enthusiasm and intent with everything across the board.
“In the second half, we showed a really good reaction.
“We earned the reward with two goals, nicking it on the press and after establishing good control from that moment, we needed to be ruthless, really push forward and put our foot down.
“But we just lost control and some of the decisions we made, we allowed them to creep back into the game which meant for a very frantic ending.
“But it’s another good learning experience for the boys to see out a game at the end and you are having to deal with balls coming into the box and set-pieces. That will be part of their careers going forward.”
The Cherries under-18s’ next contest comes with an away game at Colchester United on Tuesday (1.30pm kick-off).
AFC Bournemouth: Allan, Holman (Whitehead, 25), Parkes (Merritt, h-t), Stevens (Davies, 90+3), William, Williams, Carroll, Gregory, Kasukumya, Day, Rees-Dottin (Chubinidze, h-t).
Unused sub: McGhan (g/k).
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