AFC Bournemouth
Kyle Taylor and Antonio Diaz shared their emotions after netting three of the four AFC Bournemouth goals in the 4-2 cup final win against Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium.
After going behind early, Taylor lit up the final with a mesmeric run and finish, beating the entire Latics defence to turn the tide in his side’s favour.
“I saw the opening and went through,” Taylor told afcb.co.uk. “I just remember having the ball, I saw Jaidon (Anthony) on the left and I used him as a diversion.
The centre-half came, I put it through his legs and managed to put my finish in the corner.”
Into the second half and the hosts pulled the game back to 3-2, after which Taylor again stepped up with another special solo goal.
“The second was a bit greedy,” he admitted. “I probably should have put Jaidon in but I’ll take it, it went in.”
Taylor – who has recently been offered his first professional contract at the club spoke about what he needs to do to continue to progress with the club he’s re[resented since the age of 12.
“I need to work hard in the under-21s next season, come back fresh for the new campaign and try to break into the first-team, I have the same ambitions as everyone.”
The second Cherries goal handed the away side a crucial half-time lead in Lancashire, with Diaz finishing off a fine attack with a composed volley.
“It was a great team move,” Diaz explained. “It’s always satisfying when we work on things an then it comes off. Scoring is the best feeling and Jaidon’s vision was great to find me and I was able to finish it off.
“I was going to go with my right foot but if I’d done that it would have gone over the bar, so I let it come down and took it on my left, I saw it hit the back of the net and I was off.
“The character of the team meant that even when they scored we still thought we’d go on to win. When Kyle scored a Messi goal I thought: ‘Right, let’s go.’
“In the last ten minutes we defended well and didn’t mess about with the ball as we can do but got things done – it’s a great way to end the season.”
The cup win rounds off a roller-coaster week for Diaz, who last Tuesday was unsuccessful with the decisive penalty in the shootout of the under-21’s Hampshire Senior Cup final loss to Basingstoke Town.
“This time last week I was rock bottom and it was something I needed to get past, make a statement about and go again from,” Diaz said.
“We did that, winning trophies is a great habit to get in to and it feels amazing.”
